HaloHobbit
by werecat1
Summary: A ship is dragged through a wormhole and crash lands on middle earth by the lonely mountain, can the crew help Bilbo and the Dwarrow take back the mountain?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**Notes: So, this is just an off shot of something that popped into my head. Let me know what you all think about it?**

Bilbo was just leaning back against his bed roll when the sound of something breaking over the treetops startled the company of dwarrow and the wizard from their rest. The two dwarves set on watch came running into the campsite, pointing up at the sky as a massive shooting star flew overhead ablaze from the atmosphere as it descended into the east in the same direction that the company was heading toward. "What in middle earth was that?" Bilbo asked as he looked to where the shooting star had disappeared into the horizon.

"I don't know Bilbo." Gandalf stated, also looking in the direction that the star had fallen in. "But it landed in the same area we are headed to, so we will soon find out." He assured the hobbit as he turned to settle back down onto the bedroll that was designed for a human size man.

The dwarrow soon settled back down as well, needing to get to sleep for they had another early morning start to go through. After all they had just gotten out from being eaten by trolls after all, no thanks to the burglar's smart thinking. Thorin stayed awake a few moments more looking in the direction that the star had fallen in. He hoped that it was a good sign from Mahal that it had fallen where it had. He soon drifted off as well, the two dwarves standing guard speaking quietly amongst themselves as they kept watch over the rest of the company.

Few Hours Ago

Commander Verity Amezcua called out for the battleship to activate its main thrusters as to avoid being sucked into the wormhole that had opened up on the starboard side of the ship. The officers listened to their commanding officer activating the thrusters to try to push the ship further away from the wormhole. Several of the Sangheili moved to adjust their stance so as to avoid being knocked over in the sudden shift of the ships gravity. The ship lurched as the wormhole's own gravity force was far greater than that of the ship's own gravitational force even with the thrusters powered up to its fullest. The ship was pulled into the wormhole and launched who knew how far away from their original destination.

The Commander landed on her hands and knees as the ship came out of the wormhole on the other side. Alarms were blaring with warnings all over the ship as the shields had collapsed on the way and several of the ships weapons had been taken offline. "Status report?" The commander ordered as she regained her footing and stood up, dusting the black battle suit she wore and checking her weapons that she had on her. The Sangheili that had taken over for one of the human officers that had been injured during the wormhole jump spoke up. Mandibles clicking as he reported that several of the lower levels had been breached and that they were coming in on a planet that was unknown to them at an altitude and speed to great for the ship to hold together.

"Get on hands on deck to brace for impact. This is going to be one hell of a bumpy ride boys." Commander Amezcua ordered as she grabbed the railing in front of the deck on the bridge. The glass framing the area was cracked and from what Amezcua knew would probably not hold very long, they would need to do extensive repairs in order to get the battleship Santa Maria back up and running again.

The Sangheili on the ship glanced at one another, they had joined the ship as a mix of human and ex-covenant group to further ensure peace between the races. The ship commander was a tough female that had left most of the elites confused by the leadership. As the woman was respected by those that were on board her ship and had little patience for anyone that tried to cause problems.

Soon the ship hit the atmosphere of the planet and the people inside felt the impact and the heat of the ship as it started to break apart in the atmosphere. The window of the bridge cracked even more under the pressure as the zoomed out into the planets lower atmosphere, the window broke and a sucking noise could be heard as it pulled at anything that was loose around the bridge. Including the people inside, the commander ordered the group to remain seated and to hang on, but the metal railing broke under the pressure of the suction and swept the commander out along with her helmet. The lead sangheili that had been her second in command ordered for the location of her descent be marked for later, and continued to give out orders to those around him. Soon the ship slowed its descent as those still on the bridge got control of over the ship's engines and were able to land the Santa Maria in a more gentle manner than it would have landed in. They were near the base of a massive mountain overlooking a lake and what appeared to be a small town that sat upon it.

Rok Vadam rose up from his crouched position at the bridge, his feet braced among the metal with the power suit that he wore. It had made it easier for him to remain inside while the window had broken. He called out for a status report on the men and women on board the ship. Before he opened up a log as well as a location tracker. The chip inside the commander's headgear showed that it was moving rather than being stationary like he had thought it would be. He grunted and motioned for one of the communications officers to come to him. The man who answered the summons looked nervous. "Try to make contact with the Commander." Rok ordered, turning away from him with a dismissal. The man nodded his head and turned to head back to his station.

Rok came to a stop at the last spot that the commander had been standing in, he looked out over the deck at the damage done to the ship. "We will need to start on repairs as soon as possible, keep a watch on the perimeter and make sure that we are safe." Vadam informed another Sangheili as well as one of the human officers both nodded their head in agreement and the human saluted him while the sangheili placed a hand over his chest in a form of respect.

The commander groaned from where she was hanging from a branch in a large tree, she looked down at the forest floor and sighed as she felt the branch shift and creak beneath her weight. She inched closer to the base of the tree and felt the branch crack even more. She looked around herself to see if she could reach for a different branch to help support the weight. She saw her helmet not to far below her and thought she could ease back onto that branch and slowly make her way down the tree. However, just as the thought entered her mind the branch she was on gave way and she hit the branch containing her helmet with enough force to break that one as well. She hit all the branches down the tree before she hit the forest floor and her helmet landed with a thud beside her prone body.

She groaned and brought her mechanical arm up to cover her face with. She laid there for a few moments getting the breath back into her body before she rolled over and looked around here. Her mechanical legs and feet moved to help pick her up off the floor. Moving with the thought of her brain as easily as a normal limb would have done. She rose up into a crouch and surveyed the area around her looking for any forms of enemy that could be hidden in the bushes and trees. Finding none, she reached for her helmet and slid it on, hitting the com unit on the speaker she was able to hear the location of where the ship had touched down as well as a small map of the area that they had passed over thanks to the AI that was aboard the Santa Maria. AI Loki was always gathering data and processing images around them even when the ship was in danger of being torn apart, the little bastard.

She sighed as she calculated the distance between her and the ship, it was a long way from one area to the other and she would be moving slowly from injuries. She looked down at her body several of the branches had punctured through her skin in several areas, blood was starting to seep into the dark clothing of the uniform that she wore. She pulled the small first aid kit from one of the side pouches and settled down for the night, waiting for the sun to rise to begin the long journey east. She pulled off the shirt and set it aside and settled down again pulling the splinters out and stitching as many of the deeper wounds as possible. She dozed off listening to the reports of several of the marines and Sangheili that were discussing the repairs needed for the ship, including the replacement of the bridge windows.


	2. Notice

Note For HaloHobbit

For those of you who are confused about how Halo could interact with the Middle Earth realm, I will discuss it here. In some astrologists ideas and philosophies there such as the book _Cosmos_ written by Carl Sagan, who talks about travels through means of wormholes or black holes that are naturally accruing phenomenons in the universe. The Milky Way Galaxy has a massive black hole at its center, but that is digressing from the explanation. In the Cosmos it was thought that space travel through these holes would shorten the distance between planets and solar systems. However, the radiation that stems from these black holes would kill anyone who would attempt it. In most science fiction films they have a shield that can deflect or absorb such radiation, like in halo, but only for short jumps.

In this fanfic, a ship that was badly damaged was jumping away from a battle sight and ended up getting a back lash of exposure that lead to the ship falling out of hyper-drive or falling from the wormhole into another universe that wasn't up to date with the halo verse, middle earth. They end up crash landing with severe damage to the ship and in much need of repair. I will be explaining throughout the story how the halo verse adapts and survives in the middle earth verse and how they go about using the items they need to repair the ship so they could head back to their own time period and universe.

Thank you,

WereCat1


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**Note: Second part, again it is something that came to mind while pondering ideas. So, please let me know what you think of it. **

Morning came with the bright light of a strong sun breaking through the foliage of the woods. Bilbo was up long before the sun was along with the rest of the company. They had cooked breakfast and were preparing to set out along the small path that led eastward. Gandalf was leading them, since they didn't have any ponies to ride they were walking on foot. Something that made Bilbo really happy since he was better at walking on foot rather than riding on a pony.

They were already walking for several moments when Kili and Fili pointed out someone resting against a tree. Dark clothing making them almost invisible to the naked eye. Gandalf watched the man with narrowed eyes before he nodded to Fili to have a closer look. The blond dwarf moved forward, sword at the ready as he nudged the man with a foot. The man remained limp even after his leg was kicked several times. Fili looked over at the rest of the company shrugging his shoulders as he looked back at the sleeping man. The man moved shoulders rising and falling as he rolled over and rose to his feet. Soon towering over the dwarf the man's helmet was completely black just as the rest of the clothing was black.

Fili staggered back and looked up at the man before he thrust a blade at him, the man caught it with one hand and twisted the blade to look down at it. "What the hell is your problem?" A woman's voice asked, as the freed hand came up to pull the helmet off revealing a woman beneath the helmet. Fili scrambled as he released his hold on the blade and staggered back even further.

"You're a woman?" Fili stated, pointing a finger at the tall woman. The woman's brows furrowed in confusion at the language that was used, and she looked over at the other group of men, or what she thought were all men, maybe children dressing up as men. The group of them were very small only one stood at about her height. The group looked just as stunned to see her as she was to see them.

She flung the sword away from her and took a step forward, gritting her teeth against the pain of the stitches being pulled as she walked. "What is going on here?" She asked again, but she got no reply as the group looked at each other in confusion. She furrowed her brows and looked down at the small blond male that had scrambled to scoop up his blade and was now following behind her. "Looks like you and I don't speak the same language." She groaned, "Which means this just got a lot harder than it had to be." She continued as she came to a stop a few feet away from the group. The blond male stopped behind her poking her slightly with a finger which she slapped away with her none mechanical hand. Her helmet was being held by her mechanical hand and her weapons hung off her shoulder unneeded at the moment or so she hoped.

During the time that she was taking to study the group, the group was also taking the time to study her. She was tall, evening out at least six feet two inches in height. With golden eyes and short spiked hair, a scar running along her face and what appeared to be bolts and metal pieces attached to cover up the tissue around the scarring and eye. She wore all black clothing that was strange even to the human standards, as none of the dwarrow, hobbit, or even the wizard had seen such clothing before. The boots and what appeared to be weapons were just as strange to them as the helmet that was being held in the left hand. Her manner of speech was also strange and none of them could understand it.

"Isn't there a spell that you can use to help her or us understand each other?" Bilbo asked, getting several stares from some of the dwarrow.

"Understand! She could be an enemy sent to kill us?" Dwalin argued, pointing at the way she was dressed. The woman snared baring her teeth at them and stepping back from them.

"Well other than from stopping Fili from stabbing her, she hasn't really done anything to harm us." Bilbo argued back, waving a hand at her as well. The woman seemed to be following their conversation but wasn't able to understand what they were talking about. Gandalf looked between the woman and the rest of the company, stroking his beard as he did so.

"Yes, I do believe there is a spell that can be used to help her understand us, mind you it can only work with the standard language and none of the races language." Gandalf assured the dwarrow who were already getting up in arms over the idea of a human understanding their language.

Gandalf stepped forward, raising a hand to show the woman he meant no harm to her, and waved for her to step forward as well. She did, her hand sliding along to grasp at one of her weapons but she eased off of it the closer she got to the older man. As soon as they were within touching distance he touched her forehead and whispered the spell that would ensure she could understand them. She cried out, jerking away and dropping her helmet as she grasped at her head, collapsing to her knees at the old man's feet.

"What, what the hell did you just do you old fart?" She yelled rising up and pulling her side arm to take aim at the old man in the grey dress.

"Easy, it was a simple spell used to help us understand each other. Far more simpler to use on you then to try to use on all of us." Gandalf assured her, with his hands still raised. Bilbo and the younger dwarrow were laughing at the term that she had used to call Gandalf. Thorin and Dwalin were both holding their weapons ready to strike at her if she attacked Gandalf, but she seemed to understand what had happened and she slowly lowered the weapon until she returned it back to its sheath.

"May I ask your name, my lady?" Gandalf asked, holding out a hand to help her down the hill to a more even ground along the pathway that they had been taking. She accepted his help, bending to pick up her helmet and clip it to her belt harness.

"What, oh! I am Commander Verity Amezcua, commanding officer of the Santa Maria and soldier of the United Federation." She stated, setting her hand on her hip, and arching an eyebrow at them. "May I ask who you are now?" Gandalf nodded with a kind smile.

"I am Gandalf the Grey, these are my companions of dwarrow and a Hobbit named Bilbo." Gandalf pointed at the dwarrow and the hobbit to alert her that they were indeed different races. She looked over them and nodded her head a little worriedly.

"Right, and might I assume that you are heading Eastward?" She asked, pointing in the direction of where her ship had landed. Bilbo looked at her more closely and then seemed to understand where she had come from.

"You came from the shooting star?" Bilbo asked, and watched as the woman became tense under the scrutiny of the others as they looked her over once more.

"Yes, I did. I need to get back to it. My com isn't working on speaking to them, although, I can hear them speaking over the com unit just find. I think mine may have been damaged in the fall." She patted her cracked and broken helmet like it was a fond pet.

"One moment!" Balin stated to her with a smile before the dwarrow pulled together to speak to each other in their native tongue. Every once in a while one of them would look over their shoulder at her and shake their heads before going back to the conversation that was being had.

She stood waiting at parade rest as the group continued to discuss what she could only guess was why she was asking them if they were going east and what she wanted from them. She understood the idea that trusting a complete stranger with private information was a risky business to do, but she hoped that they would allow her to tag along as an easier way to get to where she had to go rather than trudging along by herself. She needed to make a note to have Loki's database checked as the little bastard seemed to enjoy causing problems when they already had enough problems on their hands to begin with.

Soon the group parted after about half an hour debating with each other and the man who appeared to be the leader stepped forward. "What is it you are asking of us?" Thorin asked, looking at the human woman hard.

"If I could tag along for as long as you are traveling, I need to get back to my ship." Verity stated plainly. She wasn't going to try to lie to them. It would seem that would be a very bad thing to do if she wanted them to accept her into the group and allow her to tag along. The tiny men held up a hand and they turned back to continue to argue over their decision about her. Bilbo, the hobbit as she guessed was standing outside of the group looking at her, Gandalf and the dwarrow speaking.

"So, how did you get separated from the shooting star?" Bilbo asked, curious about how she had come to be here away from the shooting star. She looked at him and opened her mouth to reply when a rustle in the bushes caused her to turn rapidly assault rifle in hand and crouched low to the ground. The others and followed suit with their own weapons all prepared to take on whatever was coming their way.

"Murder." A man riding on a sled being pulled by giant rabbits yelling about murder in the woods soon had the group and soldier tensing until Gandalf pulled the brown dressed man off the rabbits and started to talk to him.

"It's Radagast the brown." Gandalf informed the group. Verity arched her eyebrow but she lowered the assault rifle until the muzzle pointed downward and away from shooting anyone.

"What is with the dresses?" Verity asked, and the dwarrow started snickering again.

"These are robes not dresses." Gandalf stated, dryly as he turned back to speaking with Radagast.

"Whatever floats your boat, you old goat." Verity answered back, as she leaned against a sturdy tree base and watched what was going on around them. Bilbo sidled up closer to her and nudged her to get her attention.

"Oh, your question. The shielding failed and the widow of the bridge collapsed and I was pulled out in the vacuum that it created." Verity answered, as honestly as she could. The dwarrow for their part was splitting their attention between listening to Bilbo's and Verity's conversation and listening to Gandalf and Radagast's conversation. A rustle in the bushes once again alerted the group that something was coming.

A warg leaped out of the brush and was taken down by a war axe that embedded itself into its skull. "That was just a scout, we are being hunted." Thorin stated, looking down at the dead beast.

Gandalf grabbed the smaller man by the shoulders and asked him in a stern voice. "Who else have you told of this quest?" He gazed into Thorin's eyes as the other man spoke back.

"No one, I told no one!" Thorin stated, looking back at the dead beast with a dangerous look. "More will be coming this way, we need to run now." He ordered. Getting the others in the group to start heading Eastward once more, but this time in a hurried run. They pulled away and back into the brush as the large hunting party of wargs and orcs raced past them.

"I can lead them away." Radagast stated an earnest tone in his voice as he came up behind them.

"They are wargs, they will out race you." Gandalf stated, worried for his fellow Istari. Radagast for his part smiled and leaned forward on the edge of his sled.

"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits, I would like to see them try." He answered back confidently as he whistled and the rabbits took off with him clinging to the sleds handles and braces.


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

Note: Review, favorite, follow, PM for questions or requests. Hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Commander Verity Amezcua followed behind the rest of the group, mechanical feet hitting a tempo into the grass and dirt as they raced and skidded across the plains where hiding spots were few and far between. She had her assault rifle trained and ready to go as leaned up against one of the large boulders that offered very little protection from the beasts and ugly bastards that were chasing after the man in the brown gown. She came to a stop behind the others and readied her aim at the creatures in the distance. Those ugly bastards didn't look too friendly to her, but she also wasn't as afraid of them as she had been when battling the Covenant and the flood. These ugly bastards she can handle just fine on her own, after all they were not sangheili tall or sangheili aggressive.

The sound of an arrow being released from its string drew her attention to the warg and rider that had been standing on the rock top. It came down with a howl alerting the running wargs that the enemy was over here. She opened fire on the warg as it tried to stand up and put it down for good with a few rounds into its skull. She ignored the looks that she was given as she was ordered into the small opening that the dwarrow and hobbit had just dove through. She went feet first, gun still aimed at the roof of the entrance in case she needed to open fire as she landed onto her feet into a crouch doing a sweep with the gun to ensure that there were no enemies waiting in the dark to pounce.

The last to come down the slide entrance was Gandalf the Grey as he landed they heard a bugle blast from the surface and tensed as something slid down the tunnel and landed in a heap at their feet, a dead orc with arrows through the body. The commander kicked at the dead orc with one of her feet, hard enough that the skull cracked with the force of the mechanical weight pressing upon it. The group once again looked at the woman in the strange getup and questioned who and what she was. She didn't seem to mind being in battle, more at ease with it than they thought she would be.

A few moments to allow for the group to catch their breaths, then Gandalf took the lead once more. Having them follow him through the crevice and into an opening where they could see the vast view of what looked to be a city built alongside a beautiful river. "What in the world?" Verity asked, coming to a stop at the edge of the walkway that overlooked the beauty of the city.

"The last homestead, Rivendell." Gandalf explained as they all looked over the beauty of the city and the scenery that was before them. Commander Verity Amezcua looked over the view and shrugged as she turned to once again looked down the pathway that would lead them to the heart of the city.

The group walked mostly in silence, some walking behind the strange woman while others of the group walked ahead of her. They all were aware of her every move however, even as they made their way downward to the bridges that passed over the running river. Where they stopped at the sight of a tall slender male in what looked like a long shirt and pants. Verity took note that the man had pointed ears and long straight light brown hair. The man spoke to Gandalf in a language that was different from what the smaller males had spoken and from the looks of it. The smaller males were not pleased to see the new male at all.

She paid no attention to the insults that the smaller men spoke of the taller man nor did she pay a lot of attention to the response. She did notice that the smaller males seemed ill at ease with being in the area and were only just being respectable in attitude toward what would be their host for the time they were there. She felt the vibration in the ground rather than heard it as she turned to face the riders and their horses. She didn't draw her weapon as Gandalf and the other male didn't seemed overly concerned by the newcomers. However, she did take note of the weapons and armor that the newcomers had on as they dismounted from the horses and handed their reins over to others who had stepped forward to retrieve the horses.

Gandalf introduced the older looking male as Lord Elrond who Verity assumed was the high ranking nobility here as was Thorin as the two were introduced to one another. Then the elves turned to look at her. She stood up to her full height, looking them in the eyes as well. Gandalf introduced her as a newcomer to the group, stating that they had found her near a tree not far from this location.

"Ah, yes. We saw the star shooting across the sky and falling in the East." Elrond confirmed, as he gazed over the human woman in the strange garments.

"That would be my ship." Commander Verity Amezcua agreed, stepping forward to speak to him rather than raise her voice over the din that was the dwarrow as the smaller males spoke to each other in their own language.

"Come, my men will show you all to an area where you can freshen up and tend to your injuries before supper." Lord Elrond stated, motioning for the group to follow behind him and the other elf as he started up the stairs.

"Ay lass, you best not to trust those tree huggers." Gloin advised as he moved to walk beside her. She arched her only brow at him.

"Why is that?" She asked.

"They...Well…..just don't trust them is all. And Thorin Stated you can come with, you may prove more useful than the burglar." Gloin advised scurrying to move ahead of her and leave her to fall behind them with Bilbo. Bilbo looked upset and huffed in indignation at the thought that he would be useless to them. Had he not saved them from the trolls not to long ago? He shook his head in dismay and glanced at Verity. She looked down at Bilbo and the two shared a look before they shrugged at each other and continued along behind the rest of them.

A few moments later, Verity was removing the upper part of the uniform so that she could re-bandage the wounds she had received during the fall. A slight gasp had her turning around to face a female elf that had entered into the room with what appeared to be folded clothes in her arms.

"I am sorry my lady, but Lord Elrond thought you might like something more comfortable to get into for supper." The she elf bowed, and put the clothing on the bed but didn't leave the room. A short quiet of the two staring at each other broke when the she elf asked, "You are a very strong and brave woman to have so many scars on your body. May I ask what happened to your arm?"

"You may, but that doesn't mean I will answer." Commander Verity stated, as she sat down on the bed and rummaged through what was left of the first aid kit to look for more bandages. "Tell you what, you get me more bandages and I will tell you what happened to my arm." She finally stated, after coming up empty handed on bandages herself. The she elf nodded and slipped away to get the bandages for the human woman.

In the meantime, Verity sat shirtless dabbing at the still bleeding wounds that had opened up during the run from the forest to the hidden doorway into the city. A knock on the door had her turning to look at Oin who was trying not to look at her as he entered into the room. "Sorry lass, I thought you might have been injured from the fall you took. So I thought I would lend my expertise to you." He stated, still not looking at her.

"You can help bandage if you want to, one of the elves is bringing me bandages." Verity assured the old dwarf. The older dwarf finally turned to look, making a tsking sound as he surveyed the damage done to the human torso.

"What have ye been getting into that resulted in such damage lassie?" Oin asked, coming up and taking the wet cloth from her hands to wring the blood out and to continue to clean up the wounds that Verity hadn't been able to reach.

"War. that is what has happened." She answered back, leaning her body forward to allow Oin a greater reach to some of the wounds. A soft knock alerted the two of the she elf as she slipped back into the room with the bandages. Oin nodded at a spot on the bed for the elf lass to set them and watched as she paced to the human's front and nodded at her.

"Where shall I begin. It all seemed so long ago when I lost my limbs." Verity stated, bringing up her mechanical limb of hand and part of her arm up to inspect it. "It was on a planet, similar to this one. We were facing off with the enemy and we were losing. The commanding officer had just ordered a retreat when one of the aliens materialized in front. I jumped back but I guess at my speed I was no match for the squid faces own speed. He got me at mid-thighs with his blade and at my upper arm on my left side. I went down and thought I was going to die there." Verity stated, remembering back to the bloody day so long ago.

"What do you mean lassie?" Oin asked, and the she elf had settled down at the woman's feet to listen to the tale and was just as confused as the dwarf was.

"You haven't guessed yet from my weird getup to my language that I am not from this planet." She asked, looking over her shoulder at Oin as he restitched some of the wounds closed after putting a paste to keep any infection out.

"Nay lass, we kind of figured you were from another far off country, not another world." Oin stated, finishing up with bandaging the woman before stepping back and motioning that he was done and would be leaving them to get ready for supper.

"My Lady, how did you survive the attack that took your arm and legs?" The elf maiden asked, Verity looked at her before she replied.

"Someone came and carried me out of the area I was in and placed me on a ship heading to our home planet. My wounds were pumped with bio-foam and I was shoved into a cryotube for the ride home." She answered but didn't expand on what the bio-foam or cryotube was. The she elf knew when someone didn't want to speak further and quietly took her leave, allowing the woman to get ready for supper in peace.

Verity took the time to look over what had come with her, checking over her supplies and weapons. She had several clips of ammo for both her side arm and the assault rifle that had been hanging over her back when she had been pulled through the bridge's window. Both were still in working order with only a few dents and scratches to the metal. She had a few tears in her armor and uniform which she would have to mend before continuing on this little trip. After she finished going over inventory she looked at the clothing that the she elf had brought to her. A simple dress was laid out and Verity looked at it with hard eyes.

The last time Verity had worn a dress was when she had been a little girl on her home planet, now all she had left of that was her memories of the planet and her parents. As the planet had been glassed when she was a teenager. She wasn't about to start now, she moved away and put her uniform back on, leaving the armor off. Although, she felt naked, she was more comfortable in the uniform than she would have been in a dress.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Notes: Thank you for reading. Review, Favorite, Follow, PM for questions or requests. Hope you enjoy.

Verity entered into the balcony where dinner was being served the others were already underfoot and speaking to themselves about the food that was brought out to them. Greens, Verity felt amused, it would appear as if the dwarrow didn't understand what the stuff was actually meant for. She almost laughed as Dori tried to get his younger brother to try some of the green lettuce. "I don't like green foods!" Was Ori's reply, looking at the romanian leaf as if it was the most disturbing and dangerous thing on the planet.

"I don't like green eggs and ham, Sam I am!" Verity quoted from one of her childhood books she liked having read to her. Dori and Ori both looked at her in confusion at the way she spoke it and the way she smiled bitter sweet at the memory.

The Dwarrow and the elves and magi turned at the sound, all watching the woman that was standing as rigid as she had the moment that they had met. "Come, come Verity. You must be starving." Gandalf stated, stepping up to that of the host as Elrond leaned over to ask one of the she elf's why his guest was not wearing the dress that was brought to her.

"Yes, I am pretty hungry." Verity stated, moving over to sit down at the only empty place at the table, near Bilbo. The sound of the mechanical devices in her limbs whirling and rotating was barely heard under the sound that the dwarrow made about the lack of meat. Verity stayed quiet, digging into her own bowl of salad with no hesitation, she closed her eyes in response to the flavors of the crisp greens crunching beneath her molars as she chewed and savored the meal that wasn't from a package or from the mess hall.

The dwarrow stared in shock at the woman's reaction to the food watching as she didn't even glance up or around while chowing down on the green vegetation with a vigor that confused the dwarrow to no end. Bilbo cleared his throat before he spoke, "Did you not get a lot of greens where you come from?" He asked, curious about the woman. She looked up one eye narrowing into a pinprick of a hole at she examined him to see what he was trying to pull.

She set her fork down and leaned back on the stump. "Not really, the planet, I was born on, was mainly red and had red vegetation that tasted like heavy chemicals, and were rough to consume. They had to be cooked and filtered several times before they were even edible in part from the high radiation the binary suns let off and the fact that it was very high in copper." Verity answered truthfully. Bilbo looked shocked at the news.

"How did you keep from becoming sick?" He asked.

"We took supplements and had rations of other food in space tight packages." Verity told the hobbit. Who looked around the area that they were sitting now.

"Did you have water on your planet?" He asked.

"Yes, it was also red, tinted that color from the algae that grew in it, the animals were just as bizarre in coloring as well." Verity stated, fondly remembering the planet that had been destroyed.

"It sounds like an awful place?" Bilbo stated. Verity nodded with a small smile on her face.

"Yes, it was an awful place when you didn't know anything about it or how to live on it, but we adapted quickly and were thriving on the planet." She said, pulling herself out of the memories. "If you will excuse me, I have to go." She stood up, nodded to Gandalf and strode away from the rest of the group.

Bilbo looked shocked, he thought the two were getting along very well up until she left. "Was it something I said." Bilbo pondered out loud and the dwarf near him huffed out a laugh.

"Who knows?" He stated, smacking Bilbo on the back and going back to the argument at hand with the other dwarrow.

Verity watched the group as they continued on happily eating and drinking, even got a little smile back as they started getting up to sing drinking songs and throw around the food that hadn't been eaten. "My dear lady, I thought your conversation was going very well with master Bilbo." Gandalf said, coming to stand beside the tall woman.

"It wasn't his fault I left. The memories of the planet and the people who lived there became too much, a haunting of the dead so to speak." She said, turning her head slightly to look at the magi out of the corner of her eye.

"Whatever happened to make you seem so old and wise?" Gandalf asked. Verity smiled bitterly and turned away from him, heading back to her room.

"A war against humanity started and I needed to grow up or die." She answered as a parting shot. Gandalf watched her go, pondering the information that he had been given.

It was the middle of the night a few weeks later when Dori came to her room whispering about them getting ready to leave in secret that the magi had told them to move out and wait for him by the misty mountains. Verity nodded her head in agreement, she hadn't gotten very comfortable here anyways, her worry for her crew and the radio silence had started to give her the notion of leaving on her own anyways. She was anxious to get back to her ship and access the damage that was done, this place made speaking to her crew very difficult, the area must have a natural electric magnetic field that screwed with technology.

She met the dwarrow group and the hobbit at the entrance to the road they would need to take, her weapons and armor back in place, helmet on and looking as mysterious as they had first seen her. She didn't look human with all that gear, and they had not been able to tell that she had been a female or not until after she had taken off the helmet and spoken to them. She was intimidating to say the least but none of the dwarrow would admit it out loud, especially to her. They started off on the secret passage, her in the back with Bilbo beside her and Dori and Ori in front of them. They stayed quiet hardly making a noise, and the dwarrow were surprised that the robotic limbs of the woman didn't make any heavy clumping sounds as they moved. They had been sure that those limbs would be heavy and would make noise alerting anyone of her presence, but so far they only heard the soft whirring of machines working inside the metal constructs as she moved or idled standing up. They made it past the barrier of the cave that lead outside of the great city and started toward the misty mountains. Again they were cautious as they were once more in the open and could easily be taken down by the horde of orcs that followed behind them, hunting them.

Verity stayed quiet, the radio chatter from her helmet had kicked back in about two miles out of the city and she could hear the Rok was arguing with one of her officers about setting up more contact points so that they don't lose her connection again. She explained quietly that she had been in an area that likely had a natural magnetic core that stopped or disabled any technology from working. She even had a hard time with the limbs that were robotic. They gave her frequent headaches from the device that was attached to her brain stem and it did very little to calm her nerves.

Rok suggestested other modes of communication and she shot him down, asking him if he knew how to read smoke signals or knew of any birds here that would be helpful to deliver messages for them. After that Rok became more moody, snapping at any of his or her men that were lacking in their jobs for being 'lazy' while on duty. Verity had to remind him that the ship was damaged and it would take awhile to repair it with the little tools they had and the middle age metals that were around them. Also not to include that all the men were tired and worried and that his badgering them like an angry lion would get them nowhere. She was left with radio silence once more as she assumed that Rok had gone off to sulk somewhere after her argument with him. She didn't have time to deal with that and had to stay focused on the task at hand, getting back to the ship in one piece. The journey to the misty mountains was almost quiet, they had a few points that they had to cross where Verity ended up carrying the hobbit as they were passing through a heavy stream that came up to her waist or chest, and Bilbo had panicked stating that hobbits were not very good at swimming but rather sinking to the bottom.

After those events, the group had a more peaceful time along the way, stopping near dusk to set up camp and continue to watch for any enemies in groups of two. Sleep was hard as Verity was unsure what was happening back at the ship, was everything alright? How many casualties had they suffered when entering the atmosphere of the planet? She fretted over these things while listening to the wild life around her. This place seemed far to peaceful for her state of mind, used to battle zones and areas surrounded by enemy forces that could sneak into camp invisible. She came awake at every sound and movement, her robotic eye scoping the distance and around the campsite to see what had made the noise. Before she settled down once more unto the hard ground.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Note: Happy Day of the Dead, Enjoy. Review, Favorite, Follow, PM. Thank you!

Commander Verity followed behind the group, uniform stitched and carrying a cloak around her shoulders. She had fiddled with her com unit and listened in on conversations, able to send small messages in Morse code to the ship. She had gotten confirmation that the ship was being repaired and that they were pleased to hear from her. They gave her a better location of where the ship had landed along with detailed reports on what was happening. She asked that they do a scan over of the AI, Loki. When done to send reports over the com for her to communicate with Loki directly about what the scans stated. The order was confirmed with a verbal answer to her morse code, as well as a verbal answer from Loki who felt that he needed to add his own two cents into the conversation as he was being talked about by gossiping girls, as he called them.

She was even told that Rok had headed out on several occasions to put up satellites for communication between her and the ship so that it would be easier to hear them by. She had several weird looks from the dwarrow, as she learned they were named when grouped together, as she seemed to be speaking to herself, but she gave them no explanation for the unusual happening.

"What do you think she is doing when she is speaking in that weird language of hers?" Fili asked his uncle as the two stood watch during the night. They were both watching the way the woman seemed to have settled down and was fiddling with a device in her hand that she kept putting to her ear and listening before responding to whatever was being transmitted to her.

"Nothing good." Was Thorin's reply as they watched her fix her chest plating and massage ointment into the metal of her lower legs. Bilbo feeling that the others were going to continue to ignore their new comrades in arms stood up from the stump that he was sitting on, dusting off his pants he moved over to her.

"Hello!" Bilbo stated, waving half heartedly at the woman. Bofour and Ori joined him soon after. Followed by Kili and Fili who sat farther away from her. She arched an eyebrow at Bilbo and the others as they seated themselves.

"What can I do for yer lot?" She asked, some dried jerky half chewed in her mouth as she observed them watching her. She had been working on the com and listening in on conversations while she ate a small meal of dried jerky. Something that she had found in her pocket, forgotten from past exploits on the rings.

"What are you doing with that round thing?" Bilbo asked, for the group. The others leaned over more curiously to look at the device. Verity looked down at the com and back up at Bilbo, blinking almost owlishly at him.

"It is my communication device to the ship. We call it coms for short. They are shortwave radio frequencies that allow us to broadcast sound waves a certain distance to another object that can redirect the soundwave into a readable noise. The ship has set up small floating satellites all over the sky from the ship just about one hundred miles west of it, so that we can be in radio contact while I move closer to it. The closer I am the stronger the signal." Verity stated. The dwarrow and Bilbo looked at each other and then at her confused. Verity bit her lip to see if she could dumb it down any further for them to understand. She had noticed that the technology here was pretty limited and almost ranked into the human's middle ages. She brightened as she saw the bowl filled with water.

The group watched as she motioned them to follow her and they stood up and did so, coming to stand around the bowl of water that was sitting over the firepit. She picked a smoothed rock from her pocket something that she had picked up from a riverbank from a distant destroyed planet long ago when she had been younger and fresh from the core. "Okay watch." She told them as she dropped the stone into the water creating ripples along the surface. "See those ripples, they happen every time that something is dropped into an object right?" She stated. The group nodded, Thorin and several of the other dwarrow moved closer to watch her demonstration as well.

"Those ripples also happen in sound, if you place your hand over your throat and speak you can feel the vibrations happening. Those are the same as the ripples in the water. They go through the air as well and can be conducted by electricity and certain types of metals that act as conductors. These allow the vibrations to travel for longer than a short distance, which cause vibrations along the wire. In some cases it hums with the electricity and vibrations." She stated.

"How is that possible?" Oin asked, looked down at the pebble now rippling with bubbles from the hot water. Verity reached in with her left hand and pulled the pebble out, causing Oin to cry out at that, and yanked her clenched hand over to him so he can see the extent of the damage done to it. "You foolish lass, what were you thinking that is hot water?" Oin yelled, causing the others to become more alert as well. They had all been stunned by her action, lulled by her voice. He uncurled her fingers and saw that no damage was done to the arm or hand. He turned her hand one way and then the other. "I don't understand?" Oin grumbled to himself, then to her. Thorin looked over his shoulder at the undamaged limb.

"That arm is artificial Oin." Verity reminded him. "It is just metal and electricity running through it, energized by my body's movement and brain waves." She told him, gently pulling her palm back and placing the cooling rock back into her pocket. The group dispersed leaving behind Bilbo and the younger dwarrow.

"So you are able to communicate with your group through that little circle of metal?" Fili asked. Verity nodded her head sitting back down to where her bed roll was, as a nice gift from the elves along with her cloak and mended uniform had been. Verity had been a little shocked at the items but grateful to them all the same.

"That was absolutely fabulous. What other things have your people done?" Bilbo asked excitedly. Verity smiled softly at him and shook her head in the negative.

"I think that would be best left out of this, Bilbo." She said, looking at the older dwarrow all huddled together speaking about her little demonstration. Bilbo followed her gaze and nodded his head in understanding.

"Tomorrow we head through the Misty Mountains!" Thorin told the group, looking over everyone.

"Gandalf told us to wait for him!" Bilbo stated. Thorin turned to glare at him.

"We don't have time to wait for him, our time is short and waiting will take up to much of it." Thorin stated.

"Waiting never takes up too much time, it can be the edge between life or death." Verity stated over the others. Thorin looked at her and turned away deciding not to listen to the woman in the first place. After all what does a woman know of?

"Tomorrow we start through the Misty Mountains." Thorin states again and turned away to take first watch.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

**Notes: Thank you for reading, enjoy. Review, Favorite, follow, PM.**

The trail up the mountain was thin and steep, Bilbo hung onto Verity as much as possible for the ride up. Finding that she had strong muscular legs above the robotic limbs that were used to such extreme movements, and that she could handle his added weight with the ease of carrying a child. "What do you think of all of this?" Bilbo asked, unsure of himself. He clung to Verity's back as they moved higher up the rocky pathway.

"Death waiting to happen. I sense this is a trap in the making." Verity addressed Bilbo. Her robotic eye taking in every movement that seemed to follow along with their group. Something was watching them, and Verity just knew it wasn't anything good. It gave her bumps like the flood had done when her group of men had first run into them. Her com beeped.

"Commander, you are going up into high altitude, I do not think the com between us will work very well with that." Loki's voice was calm but the sound of fear was evident even for the AI.

"I know." Verity spoke back. Bilbo was close enough to hear both sides of the conversation this time. "There is really no other way around it. The group insisted on this path being the shortest. But something doesn't feel right?" She said.

"Flood?" Loki asked, questioningly. Verity shook her head in the negative before answering.

"No, I don't think so. The mountain feels hollow. I can hear my own feet echoing inside it." She said.

"Do you need us to come get you?" Rok asked.

"How will you do that, have you gotten any of the ships working yet?" Verity asked back.

"Yes, a few of them, along with some of the crickets and some of the guns on the ship are in full operation again." Rok answered back, voice deep with a low growl. "We will come if you need us Commander." He responded.

"No! I don't need more men in danger, I will get this group out of the mountain path and we will be closer to our destination. I hope our coms last that long. I also don't need to explain more about our technology and how things work." She answered, hearing her com beep as it fell out of range once more.

"Those are your men?" Bilbo asked in wonder. Verity smiled over her shoulder at him and nodded her head.

"For the most part. The Sangheili are more of their own men then they are mine, but the humans. Those are all mine." She answered with a smile. Rain started to come down sharp and cold, pelting like rocks against their skin, and speech became more difficult so Bilbo couldn't ask her what she meant by Sangheili. He ducked his head to protect himself and more of Verity from the icy water that was slashing down over them. As his Cloak doubled over both of them.

Soon the Dwarrow up ahead were pointing out movement and Verity narrowed her robotic eye on it. The massive mountains were moving, coming alive as giants and fighting each other. The sounds they made were like thunder to Verity's ears. "Holy Mother of Mary and all the angels in the world." The narrow pathway allowed for very little movement let alone cover as the giant's fighting were soon upon them, smashing into the mountain they clung to. Verity tightened her hold on the hobbit as a gap was made between them a few other dwarfs and the rest of the company.

"You're going to have to jump lass." Oin shouted. Verity sent him the evil eye and hoped he felt it, as she backed up as much as possible and swung Bilbo around into her arms.

"What are you doing?" Bilbo cried, and screamed out as she tossed him over the gap and into the waiting arms of the dwarrow. Thorin had caught him, arms tight around the small hobbit as the hobbit looked around and watched as the tall woman tossed the other dwarfs that had been separated by the stone giant before leaping over herself.

She missed, but her metal arm slammed into the rock and her feet dug holes into the stone and she started climbing her way back to the others, who watched open mouthed as her fist tore into the stone like it was sand. When she made it to the top the group helped to pull her up onto semi solid ground of the trail. Bilbo and Ori came over to make sure she was okay, but she waved them away as the group caught their breath.

Fili and Kili came back to report that a few feet ahead of them was a small cave that they can take refuge in while they waited out the storm. Bilbo helped Verity to her feet and Ori stuck close to them as the trio made it into the cave. Verity stopped at the entrance, eyes searching the darkness with an intensity that seemed to confuse the dwarrow and Bilbo. "What is wrong?" Bilbo asked.

"Something is off." She answered and took a step outside back into the rain, refusing to enter the cave afterwards and stating she would rather be washed off the edge than sleep in that rat's trap. Thorin shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't care either way what she did or didn't do, as long as she stayed out of his way. He said something similar to Bilbo, only about how he should have never come on the journey in the first place if a human had to save him almost constantly. Verity rolled her eyes from her point a few feet above the cave entrance where she had found a nice nook to hide in. Helmet on and rifle ready for any surprise that would come her way. She settled in for the night.

The sound of the ground opening up beneath her nook shook Verity awake. Gun up she leaped from her spot and eyed the now seemingly empty cave. Just what she needed the bastards had to go and get themselves thrown into a rat trap. Just as she had predicted, she hated being right at times. Yet, years of dealing with covenant had taught her a hard lesson of survival that had stuck with her even today. If something looked too good to be true, than it probably was a trap in waiting.

She didn't have her come working so she couldn't rely on the back up of a team mate or so she thought until she looked over to the left as saw Rok coming out of the mist in full armor and energy sword blazing. "What the hell!" Verity stated, but Rok came to a stand still beside her looking into the empty cave as well.

"I couldn't allow you to face an unseen foe alone, commander. Especially with such dim witted beings to be backup." Rok answered, looking down at her with green eyes.

"I would kiss you right now you damn Sangheili if I wasn't so upset over you disobeying orders. How the hell did you get here?" She answered back, The elite took a step back as if unsure of her intentions.

"Banshee, was cloaked throughout the flight, landed in a clearing a few kilometers away. Will leave once we are done here." Rok stated, and Verity laughed with a shake of her head, slugging the elite in the shoulder and motioning for him to follow behind her as she started toward the back of the cave, a sense of direction seemingly guiding her to the dwarrow and hobbit that had been taken hostage.

"I hope you brought me some ammo as a courting gift." Verity jokes, only to choke on her breath when a pack of clips were handed over to her. She looked at the Sangheili who looked over at her, his sword stowed away and his rifle out and ready for combat. "Well look at you bringing the bacon home." She snarked, and Rok gave her what would be a smile in Sangheili terms.

"Keep moving commander, we have dimwits to save." Rok stated.

"They are not that bad." She argued back, "Childish and stupid yes, but not that bad." Rok just shook his head in the negative and followed behind the woman as they slowly descended the slide that seemed to have been made over time from carving at it. A rat trap indeed, Verity thought. They reached the bottom of the trap and slid out, Verity taking out her knife to slice the ropes holding the door shut and Rok slowly cloaked behind her. "Stay quiet and stay low." Verity whispered, looking around the area that they were in. She couldn't see Rok answer but knew that he nodded his agreement of the command.

They slowly dispatch the outer ring of the goblins, ugly little things that only make Verity want to shake her head in disgust. They were not as disgusting as the flood or the prophets but they came close. She inched closer peering around the corner at were the majority of the group had gathered around a larger portly goblin that was just flaps of fat that folded over itself. She could smell him from where she was hidden in the darkness of the caves that were carved out of the Mountain. She rolled her eyes as he started in on his grand speech, her gaze quickly counting the smaller figures that were tied up before him. Only Thirteen of them, one was missing. She cursed under her breath in Spanish and nodded her head at the almost visible image of Rok. She could only see him thanks to her robotic eye, no one else could and for that she was happy for the low technology of this world.

They would need to wait for a moment to spring a surprise attack in order to free the men caught in the trap, and boy would Verity like to gloat afterwards but she would have to wait for that. They slowly move from dark nook to dark nook getting closer and taking out any one who is too far away from the rest of the crowd to be noticed until it is too late. Lambs to the slaughter or wolves as one of her commanding officer had once described how Rok and Verity worked together. She had scuffed at it, but it was true. They worked well together, like a pack already with two alphas and the rest just waiting to be called in.

They slowly eased the distance separating them from the main prey when a blinding white light cause Verity to close her human eye, the robotic adjusting to see that it was Gandalf causing the light and she wanted to shout in triumph as the opening they needed came. Rok and her advanced at full speed, knocking goblins off the thin bridges or shooting them down with single fire as they arrived beside the dwarrow. Ori and Oin looked surprised to see Verity as she sliced through the ropes that kept them bound together. "Quickly get your weapons, we need to move fast." She told them. Having them follow behind Gandalf as he made his way through the caves. She shot out in the seemingly darkness hitting her target with an ease that came from years of practice.

She could feel Rok close beside her as the group was lead out of the caves and into the heavy woods that surrounded it. Gandalf counting them as they passed him. "We're missing Bilbo." She stated, a flush upon her skin as she removed her helmet and gazed at Gandalf with confident eyes.

"So we are." He stated, looking back in the direction of the caves and started back toward them with a few of the dwarrow that had befriended the small hobbit along the way. Thorin opens his mouth to state something and Verity turns on him like a lion protecting a cub.

"No, you were to blinded by pride to see that cave was a trap, it was to hollow to smooth from the makes, you were to dumb to realize that Bilbo isn't some useless baggage to be tossed around, he is a living being. So you have nothing to say unless its an apology." She snapped, standing to her full height and feeling Rok step up behind her to lend her his shadow of intimidation. The dwarrow seem to sense that something else had made it out with them as they look around nervously at the wooded area. However, before anything further could be done Bilbo popped out from behind a tree, startling everyone but the two who were not from this planet.

"Sorry." Bilbo stated, and started on his speech about how the dwarrow didn't have a home and how he hoped to help them gain it back. Verity mimicked throwing up, but the sounds of what appeared to be wargs howling nearby had the group once more running for their lives. She hefted Bilbo up onto her shoulders and started to speak to Rok.

"Those wolf like beasts are ugly as fuck, but can be easily taken down, the orgs are similar. They don't have the fighting styles your people have, but in mass they can be very dangerous. Like grunts with grenades." Verity told Rok, who grunted his affirmation as he moved out of the line and into the shadows on his way in another direction. Verity knew he wouldn't be gone for long. The Sangheili never were when it came to fighting, they had a talent for that.

The sounds of the wargs increased and the group came skidding to a stop mere inches from falling off a cliff. "Into the trees." Gandalf ordered and the group started to climb. Verity tossed Bilbo up as far as she could, but she didn't climb up herself. Those branches wouldn't hold her heavier robotic limbs no matter how hard she tried. She stood her ground on the floor beneath the tree line and waited. Her breathing even and helmet once more in place.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Notes: Thank you, enjoy. Review, Favorite, Follow, PM.

This was War! No matter how one viewed it, it was the survival of the fittest and Verity knew that survival instinct very well. It ran in her blood like lava and ice, carved her into what she is today and she wasn't going to die now. Over the dusty smoke of dirt the wargs and orcs came. She grinned behind her helmet more than ready to meet them with her own weapons. The Dwarrow and Bilbo were calling down to her to climb the trees, but Gandalf seemed to have figured out that the thin branches wouldn't hold her heavily armored body, especially with the heavy metal limbs that made up for the missing ones. He sat gravely silent in his perch almost as if in prayer for her soul. She wouldn't need it.

She caught the first warg with her robotic arm, allowing it to chomp down on it as she brought her pistol and fired at an angle to hit through the brain-stem of the warg and into the skull of the orc riding it. Both toppled dead to the ground, and she pulled her second pistol from her holster taking a spread eagle stance and aiming the guns at the enemy. The orcs and wargs came to a stop beside the white warg and orc that looked down at the tall warrior defending the dwarrow and Isari. Several wargs and orcs lay dead at his feet. The strange weapons taking them out long before they could come into fighting range. The black cloth along one arm was shredded and hung in rags down the limb but the arm was not affected by the attack that had obviously caused the clothing demise.

In the tree Gandalf whispered something to a small moth that fluttered away from them, and he turned to watch as the woman stood ready to take on the army of orcs and wargs that surrounded them. "What are you fugly bastards waiting for? An open invitation?" She taunted, causing several of the orcs to snarl and roar at her one to charge only to have a shot from somewhere in the distance puncture through both rider and warg and into the ground by Verity's feet. She didn't even flinch at the plasma sprayed hot molten rock and dirt up onto her legs and torso. Used to the heat of the weapon used by the Sangheili that it no longer registered as pain to her when the heated soil burnt into her uniform and touched bare skin beneath.

Azog spoke in his orcish language, throwing taunts out at the dwarrow for hiring a skilled warrior to fight in their place. "That Lad has more guts than your lot and you combined." Dwalin stated back in standard. The wargs snarled and leapt at the woman, and she fired two more rounds bringing them down the riders leaping off before they could get hit and charging at her with swords ready.

Verity threw the pistols into the air, dodging first one blade than the other, in a well timed maneuver before slamming one heavy robotic foot down on the insem of the first orc and horse kicking the other in the chest, crushing ribs and the sternum in the process as well as the light armor that the thing wore. She dropped ducking the next swing of the injured orc and catching her pistols in her hands raising and firing both into the under chin of the orc that she faced before kicking him into the pile that was starting to form around the trees. Her helmet was connected to the ship's AI at this range and Loki was now doing high velocity calculations to help with her aim, sending it through the robotic eye and on screen so that she can see what was going on. She knew from a blue dot on her helmet that Rok was back in his Banshee and coming up for a ground sweep of the area. She inched closer to the trees watching as the Dwarrow threw fiery pinecones at the pile that she had started up as well as taunts.

The loud scream of the banshee had the wargs dropping and clawing at their heads as the sound was too high pitched for them to take very well with their sensitive ears. The Plasma fire soon made a fire mess of the lines that separate the two groups. The roots that were holding deep along the surface gave way and the trees started to topple from the cliff side. "Pull back, and head home. The roots can't take anymore of this. I've got it from here Rok." The Major commanded getting a confirmation from the Banshee as it made a loop and headed off toward the direction of the ship.

The hobbit and others were open mouthed and awed at the sight, even the orcs had watched, cowering from the rain of fire from above. Yet, still amazed by the star that had come to the enemies aid. The tree slipped further falling on its side as the roots lost what precious footing it had, and the tree fell. Two dwarrow fell from the grasp they had and Verity cursed, as she was too far away to throw out her grappling hook to catch either of them. She turned as the sound of a warg charging her reminded her of the enemy they were still facing.

Her fist and pistol went down the warg's throat and she opened fire shooting directly down the throat while strangling it at the same time. She screamed out her fury as she ripped the rider off the dead and falling mount and started pistol whipping him with her robotic arm denting in his helmet and crushing it into his skull as she took all her frustration out on the orc. Soon she covered in the black blood and she turned to face the other orcs, Helmet still on, and her teeth bared beneath it. This was her berserker point.

Thorin moved himself up and started charging toward Azog and the white warg as the white orc was more focused on the woman who was taking out his men in a blinding rage of skilled moves that sliced through his numbers like she was a dragon guarding a hoard of gold. The white warg caught Thorin as he leaped at Azog and the orc turned his attention back to Thorin. "Your warrior is far more impressive than I had given him credit. But, it is a shame he will still lose this round." Azog stated, a sharp grin upon his face as he looked over the injured King. Two orcs that had stayed by Azog's side slide from their mounts and started forward, sadistic grins spreading across their faces.

Bilbo leaped onto the first one, stabbing the small dagger into the belly and chest of the orc until he lay dead at Bilbo's feet. The second one, turned to face the smaller opponent but the charging of the other dwarrow soon even the match as Bilbo rushed to Thorin's side to check him over. "Thorin! Thorin!" Bilbo stated, looking into the blue eyes of the leader as he slowly lost consciousness from the wounds. The sound of an eagle crying out soon alerted the group to what Gandalf had done.

Soon the Great Eagles swooped in picking up members of the group and carrying them off into the night. Bilbo and Thorin was last along with Verity. She was dropped onto the back to cling to Bilbo as the two of them looked over at a limp Thorin.

"Is he going to be alright?" Verity asked, over the sound of the wind sweeping past them. Bilbo shook his head unsure of the question himself.

"I don't know. But they caught the two dwarfs that fell." He pointed them out and Verity spoke in spanish a blessing for the winged angels. Soon enough or not depending on who you ask the giant eagles were setting the group down upon a Giant Rock that protruded from the forest around them.

"Nice big rock to land on." Verity commented in a dry manner, but from this angle she was getting more readings from the ship and AI along with the rest of the com flaring up with communication. They were a lot closer than they had been the day before. "Thank Heavens for flying." She saluted the birds as they dropped off the Dwarrow and Isari and left, flying away from them.

"It is good to hear your voice more clearly Major Amezcua." Loki, the ship's AI stated a hint of a tease to his tone. "What is your status?" He asked.

"One injured, almost dead, from blood loss. However, the rest seem to be okay, if not exhausted from a long night's fight and flight." She stated.

"Was that the movie playing on this flight?" Loki asked, and Verity huffed and annoyed sound that caused several of the Dwarrow to look at her weirdly. She waved them away, moving further away from the group that was looking over at Thorin and Gandalf. A round of cheers had her gazing back at them and furrowing her brows at the sight of the leader standing and moving around a lot more alive than he had been before hand.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Notes: Thank you, Enjoy. Review, Favorite, Follow, PM.

The way down the rock was a lot harder than the way up had been. The steps were steep and Verity was once more carrying Bilbo along the way. Gandalf was trying to guilt trip her into helping Thorin along, but there was no way she was touching that oaf with anything but her foot to his rear end. Nobility, who liked them? She moved until she was standing beside the other group and they were soon waiting for Thorin and Dwalin to come down the slippery slope.

"What was that thing that came out of the sky with the loud shrieking?" Ori asked her, eyes wide in curiosity. She looked around them and then sighed, they had a while yet before the slow moving dwarfs made it all the way down. Gandalf looked just as interested as the rest of the lot did.

"That was a Banshee." She stated, getting a few confused stares she decided to elaborate on the name at least. "In some mythology from my people, a Banshee was a ghost of a woman who could predict the death of someone by hearing her scream at night you knew someone or even yourself would be dying soon. The machine's high pitched screech is how we named it also with the deadly fire accuracy of the machine that killed a lot of people." She stated, "You would hear it before you saw it, and knew it brought death with it." She finally stated at some of the Dwarrow still had the confused looks on their faces.

"Okay, so what was that presence we felt before Bilbo showed up?" Bofur asked. Verity looked up at the sky and then around them trying to find a way out of the question.

"That was my second in command, he flew the Banshee to help save you lot and to bring me more supplies." She stated, Shaking the pack of ammo and food that she had been given on the mountain range. "You will all have the luck of trying my rations that my men and I get. Lucky you." She stated with a smile. The group looked at her confused. Gandalf hand his hand in his beard calmly pulling on it. She had answered the questions yes, but in a most familiar fashion that Gandalf did in order to evade an almost complete answer to them. He would have to get further questions from her later. The arrival of the last dwarfs had the group preparing to move out, night was starting to fall and the group felt it best to move in darkness, as the wargs would be gaining on them as they had lost much climbing down from the massive stone.

With the lack of a fire the group couldn't really go hunting or foraging, so the packets of meals that she had been given proved to be more useful than she had thought they would be. The dwarrows expressions after being shown how to open and prepare one and then digging in had been well worth the price of it too. She had to hide her laughter behind a canteen that had been passed to her by Gandalf of all people. She shared a look of mirth with him as Ori gagged on what could have been peas but she had never been able to tell.

Soon they were moving once more, and the Dwarrow were all giving her mixed looks of sympathy and betrayal. She found it funny and couldn't help her snorts of laughter that came when one of them would mutter about how foul her food was, and would get a glare in reply.

They waited in the darkness, quiet and on alert as they listened for Bilbo to come back from his spying. Verity didn't like that Gandalf was sending someone out, but understood it was necessary as she had done so on countless occasions herself. A flashback of a planet in purple, a child to young to be in the military but also light enough to scramble over objects without alerting the covenant of his position, coming back with bloody face and a missing hand as he had almost been caught if it hadn't been for the small air vent that he had been hiding in. Verity closed her eyes and breathed deeply, this wasn't that time. The boy was now a young private in the marine corp with a robotic limb like herself, and he had stated on multiple meetings that he didn't blame her for what had happened. It was the event of war, it was needed and he was happy to help then as he was now.

The sound of feet softly treading over rocks had Verity opening her eyes as she stared into Gandalf's face. The man was looking at her as if he knew what she had been remembering and he nodded his head at her in silent acknowledgement. She nodded back, just as Bilbo broke into sight and started on about a massive bear. Verity looked over at Gandalf as if he was somehow to blame for the entire thing, and for all she knew she was correct.

Especially as they raced through the woods aiming for a large cottage in a clearing with a massive bear chasing them. She was cursing up a storm as Bilbo kicked her in the sides like she was a freaking race horse. Verity was running as fast as she fucking could with the grass sucking at her weight like a giant suction cup. They made the doors just in time and the Dwarrow and to go and be dimwits again on how to open a blasted door. She was going to have to take the time to teach them how to do so when they were not all about to be eaten by the bear. When she had tried to shoot at him Gandalf had smacked her in the shoulder with his staff and told her not to anger the blasted thing.

"What was that?" Throin asked, glaring at Gandalf as the others tried to catch their breath. Ori and Bilbo and the other youngsters were huddled closer to the woman as she rested slumped on a hay pile.

"That was our host." Gandalf stated, and Verity lifted her hand up and gave him the one finger salute before dropping it onto her stomach.

"You bloody arse, I have bruises on my sides from the halfling kicking me like his favorite race horse. Next bloody running we do, you are carrying his pint size body." Verity stated, to get Gandalf hemming and hawing about how well she did keeping up and outpacing the others even with all the added weight of her armor and weapons and of course Bilbo. "I should have just shot the damn bear, at least one of us would have died happy." She grumbled, getting a glower from Gandalf as he settled down for the night.

The next day wasn't any better, with Gandalf going on about how Beorn didn't like any visitors and how they needed to come out in pairs in order to ease the man into things. Verity scuffed at that. March out her dumb ass out to the man chopping wood and introduced herself. "Hello, I am Major Verity Amezcua of the ship Santa Maria, I come in peace."

Beorn looked at her amused as she saluted and looked behind her as Gandalf hurried to catch up with her with Bilbo by his side. "These are my dimwitted associates pay them no mind and they won't do anything overly stupid." She offered as their greeting. Gandalf smacked her over her head with the staff and Verity grumbled about her not needing a talking baboon to tell her what to do. Beorn grinned as he watched the woman as she seemed to mimic Gandalf behind the man, and adding her two cents worth in by stating the two of them meaning the entire bakers dozen and the wizard were here on a nice long walk with a good story on why they were being chased by orcs and wargs.

The stay was nice, Verity thought. No need to get run over by angry people with pitchforks but nice. Gandalf and the others had finally cornered her into a small room and demanded full details on what and who she really was. So she ended up spilling a lot of the beans. To them about how advanced her people were, the Covenant, the human genocide, the breakup with the Covenant.

"We know you are not from this world lassy." Oin started. "You told me this yourself when we were at Rivendale." Verity nodded her head in agreement.

"That is true, and you know I have artificial limbs that are not from this world and a lot of scars and weapons that are not native to this world either." Verity stated with a shrug, looking at the group that were watching her right back.

"What was that thing that fell out of the sky, you called it your ship?" Gandalf stated, Verity nodded her head.

"The Santa Maria, Battleship of the UNSC or the United Nations Space Corp. I am Major Verity Amezcua, commander of the Battleship. We came through a wormhole and crash landed on this planet. We haven't been to this part of the universe so we are unsure of the planet itself." Verity answered looking at the group. Gandalf's brows furrowed.

"I am afraid madam that we need more to go on." He answered. She furrowed her brows as well.

"The UNSC is the guarding army of human colonies of different planets along the galaxy we know as the milky way. However, years ago we found out that we were not alone in this aspect as a colony was attacked and destroyed by a group of races of aliens foreign to us. They attacked and killed all of the colony and destroyed the planet. Leaving it barren. The UNSC started counter measures to prevent further attacks but were met with hostile actions from the group that called themselves the Covenant." Verity stated, she looked at the wall, her face blank as she went into the light background of how they got to this planet.

The Dwarrow looked at each other and Gandalf and Bilbo both looked horrified. "You mean to say that planets and entire nations were wiped out?" Bilbo asked.

"Affirmative." Verity stated, still looking at the wall.

"Lass, you spoke to Master Baggins about your home world, was that one of the planets that was destroyed?" Balin asked, trying to be careful with the question.

"Affirmative." She replied, "I was a teenager at the time, I lost my parents and my birth planet." She stated. The Dwarrow sucked in their breath as they looked at each other. This almost seemed to reminisce of the Dwarrows loss of their mountain.

"What happened to the Covenant?" Gandalf asked, eyes worried.

"There was a fracture in the ranks, as they found out that what the hierarchy was mainly doing was aiming for the death of all things in the universe. The Sangheili and other races started fighting amongst themselves when the rings that they were seeking became weapons of mass destruction and brought with it parasitic creatures." She answered. "The Covenant fractured in fractions of itself, some siding with humans, others finding new forms to believe in and continuing the attack against humanity." Verity stated.

"By Mahal, Lass. What is there worth fighting for if that is what is out there?" Gloin asked. Verity's blank expression hardened and she looked at the dwarf.

"Hope!" She answered back. The rest of the evening afterwards they left her alone to converse with her men and AI.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Notes: Thank you, enjoy. Review, Favorite, Follow, PM.

The trip away from Beorn's was a little bit nicer, she rode on a horse. First time for everything Verity guessed, listening in as the coms lit up even heavier. Loki or Rok speaking to her about how the repairs were going on the ship. They had managed to get more of the ship's offline guns working and were aiming to fixing the thrusters that had been damaged in the crash landing as well as getting new glass for the windows and repairing the shielding. They still had no account for how many men they lost during the crash, but Loki was making a quick calculation for when she got back on board the Santa Maria.

It was nearing noon when the group made it to the woods that they were supposed to go through. "Wow, so homey." She stated. Sliding down from the horse and patting it on the rump in farewell. The others debated keeping their mounts but were quickly told no by Gandalf who was still on his horse.

"Where are you off to old geezer?" She asked, helmet once more in place on her head. Gandalf ignored her and took off on his horse in the opposite direction. "Great, he sends you nitwits out on this adventure and then leaves half the time for you to get yourselves in trouble. Verity grumbled watching as all the Dwarrow and Hobbit turned and looked at her like she was speaking in another language. "Men." She stated and started down the pathway after shouldering her bag onto her shoulder and grumbling about the stupidity she had to deal with.

The dwarrow moved behind her more amused by her grumbling than anything else. The observation that they had done while they had been at Beorn's had showed her in a different light, especially after finding out all they had about where she had come from and what had been going on outside of their own little planet. Mind blowing, to say the least. Oin was worried the woman was too familiar with death and fighting to ever really settle down and be at peace, but Balin had assured him it was up to Verity to decide and when she was ready she would choose what was best for her.

The longer that the group was in the forest. The more it seemed to sap all of the happiness from the group. Verity seemed to be on high alert, watching for anything that moved and trying to keep the path in sight at all times. Soon the group was separated into smaller ones. Seemingly walking in circles around the forest without knowing which way to actually go. Verity followed behind Oin and Dwalin, both were sticking closer to the taller woman as she seemed to see much better in the dim light that was shown along the way.

Spiders soon came upon them, and the fight for survival started all over again. Verity cursed as she opened fire at the massive eight legged monsters. "Flood, I would take the flood any fucking day of the week. Why did it have to be spiders." She grumbled, shooting another in the face as it came at her. She was back to back with Thorin on this, Bilbo was off taunting them and the sound of him making up a little taunt seemed to echo in the stillness of Mirkwood. The elves came later, landing in front of the group and pointing arrows or swords at them.

"Just what we needed." Verity muttered. Lowering her firearm and raising her hands to the sky as they were chained up. "Careful with that thing or else you are going to blow off your head." Verity snapped at one of the elves as they were looking over her pistols right down the barrel with a finger on the trigger. The apparent leader ordered her to be quiet and she glowered at him as he moved away from the group to push them into a march toward their living space.

"Well, you could have put in a nice welcome mat while you were at it." Verity snarked as she was pushed forward into the group as they passed over the bridge. "Not a bad place you've got, hope it's a five star or you won't be getting any repeat visitors." She pointed out. The elves of course ignored her ramblings as did the Dwarrow used to the snark by now.

The group was stopped before a step of a dais leading up to an overly dramatic throne, where sat a tall long blonde haired male. Thorin glared at him from where he was beneath the dias and throne. Verity wanted to add a comment about the flare and dramatics but wisely kept to herself as she observed the way the Elven King portrayed himself. A man just as stubborn and cruel as Thorin was when in the right mood to be.

Her robotic eye could see something was wrong with his face, but it seemed blurred. Her Com was silent, thankfully, as the small device was wedged deeply into her ear, but Loki was putting things up onto the screen of her helmet as she gazed around, making points of possible escape routes that the group could take in the likelihood of such an event occuring. She watched as the blond haired king started down his throne.

"Why Thorin Okanshield has not been seen East of the Misty Mountains for years, but where does your journey end?" Thranduil stated, coming down to stare down at the smaller male. The dark haired dwarf glared up at him, blue eyes like stones. Thranduil turned his attention to the tall male that stood almost in the center of the group with a helmet that obscured his face. "Remove his helmet." He ordered and a guard stepped forward to do just that. Only to get a boot to the chin as the man brought his foot up and knocked the elf backwards.

"I don't need help taking my helmet off, thank you." Verity stated, reaching up with her chained hands to pull the damaged helmet away. Her eyes stared boldly into Thranduil's as he moved to look her over.

"A woman in your party, my aren't we getting desperate." He stated, looking her over with a sneer. Verity rolled her eyes.

"We got lost, your wood's are the shortest path to my destination. I am paying good gold for these dwarrow and you have taken us prisoner without even a by your leave." Verity stated. Balin had been opening his mouth to speak before Thorin could cause any lasting damage to the fragile relationship that remained of the elven alliance with the dwarrow of Erebor. "We come East of the Misty Mountain because I paid them to do so. Gold is Gold is it not?" Verity lifted her head like she was a noble woman and Balin would have applauded her performance if Thranduil hadn't brought a blade up to her throat.

A smirk graced her lips in reaction to the threat, and the blade was removed. "Who are you?" Thranduil commanded. Verity arched an eyebrow.

"I am Major Verity Amezcua Commander of the Battleship Santa Maria. I paid these men to lead me back to my ship over the East to the waters far past the mountains." She stated, all without blinking an eye. "I came to speak with Lord Elrond about a possible Alliance between my people and his. Now I am returning with news of such negotiations." She stated. Head still level and even as she looked at the Elven King.

Thranduil moved back looking at her, "I have never heard of you?" He stated.

"Understandable, I traveled a long way across the sea of stars." She answered back, not lying but not fully telling the truth either. Being as evasive of the truth as Gandalf was.

"Put them in the dungeons until I decide what to do with them for the time being." Thranduil told his guards. Verity rolled her eyes as the group was led away by being tugged on by the chain.

"Nice save lass." Balin told her with an approving nod in her direction. She nodded back, walking into her cell and sitting on the cot that was there, watching as the others but Bilbo also took their spots inside their cells.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Notes: Thank you, I hope you enjoy reading it. Review, Favorite, Follow, PM

It was a few weeks later that Bilbo came up with an escape plan, and was able to retrieve Verity's weapons at least and her bags as they had been deemed useless to the unknown Elves. During that time she had been able to communicate with her ship and found that the mountain seemed to be alive. She had gotten reports from Loki, Rok, and several other officers that had noticed activity from the mountain and steam rising from open vents around the mountains area. That didn't bode well for anyone. The elves passing would give the human weird looks as they could have sworn they had heard voices coming from her cell along with her own.

Verity was pulled up to speak with the Elven King once more. The guards stood behind her by meer feet, ready to spring into action to defend their lord. Thranduil stood facing away from them, looking at the items that had been taken from her person. In an overdramatic twirl, one that would have done any diva proud, he moved toward her. "Where are you from, exactly?" He asked, looking her over from her dirty and torn uniform to the short cut hairstyle she sported and the scars that raced across her face.

"That is highly astute of you to notice that I am not native to this continent." Verity answered, turning her head to keep him in sight. He nodded his head in agreement, calm for now it seemed. "I come from a long ways away, as I said before the Dwarrow are helping me to return to my ship." She stated calmly. The best way of lying is to stick as close to the truth as possible, and while she was speaking true, the dwarrow were aiding her in her crossing of the land to return to her ship. The Elven King didn't need to know that they also had a quest as well outside of her aid, and that her ship wasn't the type that floated on water.

"You say you come from a far away place, but I have never seen such weapons or equipment like yours before, and believe me I am old enough to have seen most of the world's nations." Thranduil warned her. She looked at him square in the eyes.

"You may be old enough to have seen the world over, but there are still new civilizations that are rising or falling every year that you know nothing about." She answered. Thranduil brought his blade around and to her throat, Verity didn't flinch from the sharpness and cold of the steel biting at her skin. "I am young, old for a human but young to you. I have seen things that I wished I haven't, things that made my skin crawl with dread. I am old in years far beyond your own age from wars that have shed blood upon the ground of planets, watched as those planets were destroyed and entire worlds and all life gone in a split of a second. All to monsters that thought themselves above all things. So sorry if your little blade does not make me cower like you wish to." She snarled at him, knocking the blade away from where it had lightly pierced her skin causing some drops of blood to well to the surface. She turned to look at the guards waiting for the orders at the end of the great room. "I have nothing further to say, return me to my cell." She ordered, moving toward them with all the grace of royalty that any elf would be proud of.

Thranduil watched her go eyes narrowed at the way the guards rushed to keep up with the prisoner as she moved back to her cell on her own accord. He moved and sat down heavily upon his throne, hand coming up to rest against his chin in thought. The woman was of a different class than he was used to. She did not behave as he would have expected from any prisoner or woman, let alone one that was supposedly a diplomat of a foregin nation. She was unafraid of him or his threats, met each one with cold indifference and seemed resigned to repeat the whole thing as many times as it would take in order to drive the Elven King mad with rage at her stubbornness to answer any of his questions.

The sound of the doors opening again and guards pushing Thorin into the room had Thranduil preparing for another stubborn fool that would refuse to answer any of his questions. The more he asked, it seemed the more questions he had for them. Yet, neither of them seemed to want to give an inch to relieve some of the pressure being placed upon them by the Elven King.

The Elven party was going in full swing when Bilbo opened up the cells one by one, shushing the group as they made their way downward toward what would be a basement under the dungeons. He had managed to swipe Verity's weapons, bag, and helmet from where they had been placed, and also managed to find the weapons that were the dwarrows as well. Stashing them away for the escape. Verity checked over the weapons nodding her head in approval as she found them not to have been tampered with in any way.

That had been one of her main worries, that the elves would be looking over her weapons not knowing how dangerous they could be. She had switched the safety on for most of them, but was still scared that somehow the morons would shoot or blow themselves up somehow. She placed upon her body once more along with her helmet and nodded to let Bilbo know she was ready. Getting into a barrel however proved more difficult as she was far too big for that, but the dwarrow were able to fit inside easily enough.

The awakening of the guard was the thing that pulled the group together. She pulled Bilbo close to her as she pulled the lever, dropping them and the barrels into the river below them. The cold water sent a spasm through her body, the shock of it almost making her let go of the hobbit. However, she shook it off and tightened her grip as she grasped a barrel in her other arm, keeping them afloat as they rushed down the river toward the gate. The sound of the alarm had her hoisting Bilbo up and into the barrel she was grasping and pulling her side arm up and flicked the safety off. She released the barrel and relaxed onto her back to allow the water to push her forward and let her weight float, as she pulled the pistol back and loaded a round into the chamber.

The gates leading to the open river where shut, she smashed into the barrels as they came to a halt by the closed grating. Grunting she pulled herself up and braced herself over the barrels to get a good aim at the lever, the sound of an arrow being fired as she gently squeezed the trigger to the pistol covered her own yelp. The shot rang loud as it splintered the lever and pushed the gates open. Kili who had been going to jump out and open the lever caught the woman as she slumped partially into his barrel. An orc arrow protruding from her shoulder, he wrapped an arm around her and watched as the orcs raced to catch up to the barrels that were racing down the rapids.

"Your okay!" Kili stated, Verity groaned and reached with her arm to rip the arrow from her back. "No, don't. You could bleed to death if you do that." Kili stated.

"No I won't. Hit my metal arm, including the metal shoulder bone." Verity told him. "The skin is the only thing that has any feeling to it, so it will just bleed for a little bit." She assured him, yanking the arrow from the metal bone. The head of the arrow remained lodged into the metal structure, but the shaft was removed from her body allow some movement of her arm. "Damn it. The arrow head is lodged in some of the metal plating, will have minimum movement until it is removed." She swore into the com.

"You would think that you had outgrown playing indian's and cowboys major!" Loki commented dryly. Verity cursed again and static washed over the line. "Major, do you need backup?" Loki asked, his worry evident in his tone, he looked toward where the gps on the map that was only partially done seemed to move along a ragged line. He was guessing that ragged line was the river as the sound of it was evident from the coms.

"Negative, don't send anyone out. The river is long and we have no idea where it is leading to, might be closer to the ship though. Just need to keep up with the rapids." Verity's answer was coming in choppy from the sounds of fighting and her efforts to stay above the water line made speaking very difficult.

The orcs and elves raced along the sides of the river bank, the orcs firing at them or trying to leap on them from different vantage points. Verity shot several of them before she ran out of ammo in her clip and she didn't have the energy or the means of exchanging it with a fresh one. She kept ahold of the barrel and braced herself for the rapids. Her body smashing against rocks and other debris that the river had swept into it. A few times her legs got stuck in branches submerged under water and she had to fight her way back to the surface as she was dragged under. The waterfall had her groaning as she braced for it, the fight having ended a few moments ago when the falls came into sight. The elves having pushed the orcs back and away from the river and they watched the barrels go over it along with the prisoners that had escaped.

She dragged herself out of the calm water, coughing up river water from her lungs as she collapsed onto the embankment of a stony was helping the others out of the barrel, some of them just as hammered as she was with exhaustion and the feeling of being half drowned. "That was worse than going down Niagra Falls." She grunted out as Bilbo came over to check on her along with Ori. Both looked at her in confusion and she waved them off. Ori grasped one hand and with the help of the hobbit managed to pull the adult human up further on the land. She sat leaning back against a large stone and watched as the dwarrow gathered around one another. Her body was aching and her shoulder was acting up, jerking and spasming with the jagged movements of gears being locked up by the arrowhead.

She officially hated this planet. Verity thought as she listened to the men grumble and groan about something or another. "Shut up, we are closer to your damn mountain than before. The ride down the rapids wasn't all that bad and we would still be locked up if it wasn't for Bilbo." Verity ordered. Getting glared at by Thorin before he turned to speak with the others once more. Movement of a shadow falling across the rocks had her pulling her rifle and aiming it behind the group as a man with long hair stood up on a large boulder looking down at the group.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" The man asked.

"I could ask you the same question." Verity answered, the man jerked his gaze to the human who was leaning against the large rock, a weapon aimed at him as he aimed his crossbow at the dwarrow. He had forgotten they were there, from the voice coming from the head gear it would appear that the human was a female.

"I would lower that if I were you. I have your leader targeted." He stated, confident that he had the upper hand.

"Yes, but you have a crossbow. How long will it take to reload that before I shoot you myself?" She asked, waving the weapon at him and taking a crack shot at the rock beneath his feet causing it to fly backwards. "I don't have to reload after every shot, but you do." She stated. The man scrunched up his brow looking at the dust where the rock had been between his feet.

Bard raised his weapon in surrender, "Who are you and why are you here?" He asked again.

"We are Snow White and the 13 dwarrow and one hobbit, here to find the evil witch of the east and throw water on her." Verity snarked, as she struggled to her feet. "Listen, we are heading East, I have a ship over there. They are escorting me, and we could use a place that is dry, some food if you could spare it, and a place to rest for a little bit. I am sure we could make a deal somehow. Mr…?" Verity stated.

"Bard of Laketown." Bard answered, "I am a fisherman." He stated. "Those barrels you came down in, I use them to put my fish in. They are from the elves of Mirkwood."

Verity looked at the barrels, "Is that where they are from. Glad to know." She stated with a shrug of her shoulders. "Can you bring us to Laketown?" She asked.

"No one is allowed into Laketown." Bard stated. Verity arched an eyebrow.

"I am sure we can arrange something to persuade you to get us into the town." Verity assured him, looking over at the dwarrow who seemed to have been following along with the conversation.

"Yes, we can." Balin stated, tugging on his beard and turning to speak with the other dwarrow. Bard nodded his head, allowing the dwarrow to speak to each other. He turned his attention back to the woman in the strange clothing and headgear.

"May I ask for your name, madam." Bard asked. Verity pulled the helmet off and looked him over as if deciding if it was okay or not to give him her name.

"Major Verity Amezcua." Verity answered, tucking the helmet underneath her good arm. The gears on her robotic arm jerking at the movement and making whining noises as they tried to unjam itself. Bard nodded his head, looking her over once more. She looked like she was in the military, but from what army or kingdom he was unsure of.

"Sorry for my frankness but I was unaware that any kingdom allowed women to fight." Bard stated, the dwarrow paused in their argument as they turned their attention to Verity.

"You would be surprised at some of the nations then, in some areas I know of it is the women who are in command." She answered with a wink. She placed her hand to her ear, the gears whining at the movement once more.

"Yes, we made it out of the rapids alive, no we are by the lake. Trying to get to the town on the lake. Send for a team tomorrow to pick me up. I think we may need some help with persuading the head of Laketown to aid our new allies." Verity stated into the com.

"Yes." Loki responded before he was silenced and Rok spoke to the commanding officer.

"How was the trip." He asked, amusement evident in his tone.

"About as fun as one you sangheilis flinging me around like a rag doll." She answered back. "I have an arrow wedged into my gears in my shoulder. It is causing problems with movement. Will have to have help removing it." Verity stated. She looked up when she sensed that she was being watched. Bard stood waiting by his barge, the dwarrow having agreed to an amount with him for his help to get them into Laketown.

"Sorry for interrupting your self conversation, but we need to get going. You won't fit into any of the barrels. But I am sure we could persuade the guards to look the other way if necessary." Bard stated. Verity nodded her head and moved over to the barge, stepping on board with a familiarity to ships. The group started toward Laketown.

"Do you miss it?" Thorin asked, he had come to stand next to Verity as the barge continued toward the town. Verity looked at him.

"Miss what?" She asked.

"Your home." Thorin stated.

"Everyday, my home, my planet, my parents." She stated. "I was just a teen when it was all taken away from me, but unlike you. I cannot return as it was destroyed." She stated. "It is why I understand your need to return to your own home." The other dwarrow and Bilbo were listening to the conversation as was Bard. Bard had no clue what the two were speaking about, but he knew that the dwarrow were here for one reason only. The mountain that had been their home, the dragon that had taken it from them. He had a feeling that this was going to be a turning point for himself and his people.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Notes: Thank you, enjoy! Review, Favorite, Follow, PM for requests.

The dwarrow and Bilbo were not pleased with having to get into the barrels and load them with fish. Thorin was one of the few who complained the loudest until Verity offered to silence him up by knocking him out for the rest of the journey. This had several rebuttals from some of the other dwarrow but she quickly reminded them that they had no choice in the matter if they wanted to get into the town itself.

"What about you lassie?" Oin asked, looking a little green around the edges as he got into the barrel and started to wiggle down so that it could be filled with fish on top. Verity grinned at him.

"Don't worry about me, I have my own plan." She assured the group, as they neared the gate she slide down onto the edge of the barge before putting her helmet back on and slipping underneath the barge, hanging onto the bottom of the boat as they moved through the icy water. She had taken a deep breath in, having to learn how to do breathing exercises when she joined the military as a precaution of being on board a space ship losing oxygen. Holding ones breath was part of the training involved along with being gassed and other violent matters that she had to go through before graduation day. She felt the barge come to a stop and moved out from underneath the barge swimming in the dark shadows of the floating town to pop up a few yards away and silently climb out of the water, helmet removed, she pulled the wet rags that Bard had given her beforehand to throw over herself, and walked with the hood over her face and body bent over to look like an elderly person. Slow steady movements with a confidence that she was always there gave little away as people moved passed her without another look.

She watched from a vantage point as the barge was searched and how the fisherman Bard handled the situation. The ugly little man that was speaking to him made her trigger finger twitch with a need to shoot him; however, she ignored the instinct and watched from her position as the barge was allowed to pass into the town without further problems. Other than for the little toad ordering for his men to keep a very close eye on the fisherman and his house. She shuffled her way over to where the barge had settled and watched as the dwarrow and Bilbo piled out of the barrels and into the water to go up the sewage system. She grimaced in sympathy at the idea, but shuffled her way over to pick up some fish and look at it like she was thinking of buying it.

"Now my dear old lady, after all the times you've watched my kids. I must insist that you come in for supper tonight. On me!" Bard stated, ushering the 'elderly' lady up the steps and toward the house. Verity made hemming and hawing noises as if she was trying to find an excuse not to do so, but then finally gave in like any old woman would do when offered a free meal for the night without having to cook it herself.

A teenage girl met them at the door, asking her father why there were dwarves coming out of the latrine. Verity had to cover up a smile at that image it caused in her head. She moved passed father and daughter as Bard discussed what was happening. The girl watched the taller woman enter into the house and set down her helmet and bag before pulling the sodden wet rags off her back and setting them down in a small pile.

"Who is she?" The eldest girl asked, watching as the dwarrow moved around her and started to complain about how she hadn't had to do some of the things that they had to do.

"That is a foreigner, I don't know from where?" Bard stated. "Her ship is around here somewhere around here, at least that is what she has stated to me." He said, looking down at his eldest.

"No foreign ships have sailed in here." The eldest stated, looking at the woman once more. She was wearing strange attire and had very short hair. Bard also looked at the woman and he frowned and started to move toward her.

Verity sensing the change in mood from the fisherman turned toward him. "What do you wish to know." She asked, having guessed he was told by his kid that no seafaring ship had sailed from anywhere foreign.

"Where are you from? I don't like being taken for a fool." Bard stated, placing his hand on the knife on his hip. Verity looked down at it and smiled charmed by the action for some strange reason.

"And I didn't. My ship isn't one that goes on water, well that isn't true it could but it wouldn't stay afloat for very long. To heavy. It flies in outer space." She stated, the look Bard gave her almost had her laughing.

"Do you think me a fool?" He asked his voice dropping low in his anger.

"No, I do not. This is why I didn't speak about it in the first place. You do not fully understand but that is alright. Just know that I am from a very far off land and please allow that to satisfy you for the time being." Verity assured Bard, placing her metal arm onto his own hand to still it from pulling the knife out. He looked down at the hand, cold to the touch and the sound of the movements seemed to have been almost like gears jamming up. "Blast this arm." Verity grunted, turning around and peeling her armor and undershirts off to show where the arrow head was lodged in the metal of the shoulder. Oin hissed and moved over to take a closer look at the wound.

Thorin and others curious about what had Oin humming under his breath moved in to take a look. The metal plating was pierced and Oin was using some tools to pry the arrow head out, catching them on different levers and gears that allowed the arm smooth movement. "Watch what you are doing you old man." Verity hissed, as he tugged on the metal lever and had her arm twitching slightly with the movement, like he was pulling on a tendon. Oin looked surprised at the way the inside of the metal arm looked, gears and other items flowed along a path similar to a wheel or cycle, sparks causing the gears to shift and move with the body as different pathways were being moved by neurons from the brain. The flow of wires seem to reach along the spinal cord and into the flesh racing up to Verity's brainstem and allowed for the even movements of the robotic limb.

"This is amazing work." Oin stated in awe, running his hand up the metal limb and looking at the smooth metal that hadn't been damaged by the arrow head. "Who in the world was capable of creating such fine works of beauty?" Oin asked, stepping away from Verity.

"Doctors that had to refine the ways of thinking about the human body and how it moves. Neurons from the brain and robotic limbs with small nanobots to help the body except the new limb instead of rejecting it. The fragile connection between a lost limb and how those functions could be used to create kinetic functions for a new limb." Verity stated. Oin looked confused by the statement. "Science in terms of use Biology, physics, anatomy, and robotics all being able to function together to create a limb that can be used by the wearer and not just as a form of covering up or slight aiding the individual, but actually being able to function as an actual limb." Oin shook his head still lost by the idea and Verity shrugged at him. Bard was staring at her with just the same expression of crazy on his face as he had been when she said her ship was meant for outer space.

"Right, let's move on to something else. Like, how are you Dwarrow going to get to the mountain that is across from this lake?" She stated, leaning forward to look at Thorin. "Please tell me that you have thought that far ahead and you were not just thinking of one baby step at a time." The blank look the man gave her answered her question and she sighed heavily into her arms as she dropped her head into them.

"Mountain!" Bard stated, sounding stressed. "Smaug lives in that mountain."

"Yes, they know. They plan on taking it back by some freaking miracle." Verity stated dryly. Bard looked at her before looking at the dwarrow.

"We need to get more weapons and armor from the stock and take some boats to get us across the lake." Thorin answered. Verity nodded her head.

"Okay, so do you have funds to pay for this. My guess is no. So that leads to plan b, stealing them. Which will lead to you being discovered and you making a grand speech about birth rights and blah blah blah, and everyone gets rich fast scheme." Verity stated, "You following me so far, good. Here is what I think you should do, go and ask whoever is in charge for the rights these items in exchange for money via an actual contract, not from word of mouth because that does little good for anyone." Thorin turned away from her and Verity nodded her head.

"What does that mean?" Bard asked.

"Means they are going with plan B, and are going to get caught." Verity stated. Bilbo looked between the tall woman and man and then toward Thorin.

"We could actually listen to her for once." Bilbo stated, only to have Thorin glare him into submission. Verity nodded her head and looked up at the roof of the building.

"Don't worry you won't have to deal with me for too much longer. I will be gone in the morning. My ship isn't too far from this area." She stated, and turned to look at Bard. Reaching out and handing over a flare gun, "If you need help in any way just point this at the sky and pull the trigger. I will come if I can." Verity assured the man.

It was near midnight, that the dwarrow were caught breaking into the armory and taking items that they felt they would need for the rest of the journey to the mountain. Bard and Verity watched as Thorin made his grand speech and Bilbo backed him up. The man had changed some since Verity had been with them. He seemed off, in a mind illness kind of way. Verity had hoped to see them all the way to the mountain, but she didn't think that Thorin would allow her to go any further with them. The other Dwarrow also had changed, almost in a similar fashion to Thorin, seemingly to become single minded on one thing, the mountain of gold that awaited them and the stone that was there.

Verity didn't know much about the stone, other than Thorin wanting it in his hands to prove to others that he would be king. She had no idea what makes a king, but she knew it had nothing to do with stones no matter how precious they are in the end they are cold dead objects. She turned away and headed back to the house, no longer interested in what the dwarrow were doing, but very disappointed in them. Like they were her children and they had done something that had left a deep scar across her heart that would never heal. She shook her head of the feeling and watched from the window as the dwarrow were welcomed with open arms after their verbal declaration of being generous with the flow of gold.

"They remind me of the prophets spewing lies to get us to do what they wish." Rok stated over the com, Verity chuckled at the thought of Thorin dressed like a prophet spouting out his pretty words to the people who want to hear them. "A just cause to win back a home, but that cause has become squandered in the muck that seeps from the pores of poisonous rot."

"I didn't know you were that poetic Rok." Verity stated. The com went silent before Loki spoke up.

"I believe that Rok is correct in this metaphor, the dwarrow wish to bring their people home, but have become blinded by the gold that seems to become the poisonous rot that brings them to their death."

"Greed will always befall upon the men who wants it least." Verity stated with a dry chuckle. "I hope that some of them will see that in time to stop what will happen afterwards." She commented.

"I doubt that they will until it be too late." Rok answered back. Soon silence stretched upon them and Verity was asleep curled into a ball as small as she could get in the area she had chosen to be her resting place for the night.

By dawn she was gone, bags and her other items all removed from the house like she had never been there. The dwarrow didn't bother to look, but Bilbo did and he was saddened that she hadn't said farewell to him or the three younger dwarrow. He sat in one of the row boats as he and a few others watched the people gather around them to wish them luck. Kili and Fili and a few of the others were late coming to the boats having overslept, and Thorin was in no mood to wait for them. They watched as the other dwarrow were left behind as Thorin ordered them to start rowing for the shores closest to the mountains.

Kili kicked at the ground looking at the boats as they grew smaller and smaller on the horizon. "He could have waited for a few more moments." He grumbled to his brother who was also moping beside him. Bofur looked just as down in the mud as the other two but he soon cheered up and got the other two inside the house with Bard to warm up.

"Hey Bard, where did our lady friend go?" Bofur asked. Bard looked over his shoulder at him.

"I don't know, she was just gone by the time I got up in the morning just before dawn." Bard answered, looking out the window to squint at the rocky areas that bordered the lake and town. "I am sure she is around here, she said her ship was nearby." He stated, more of a reminder to himself than to the dwarrow who had stopped listening to him anyway.

Verity moved much faster on her own. Meeting up with Rok about an hour after she had left the town. The sun was just starting to rise over the Eastern horizon and shadows were starting to spread across the ground beneath the sun stretching like claws out to grasp at travelers passing by. "What have you got?" She asked as a way of greeting.

"Activity inside the mountain, looks like something is awake and moving. You wouldn't happen to know what, would you?" Rok asked gruffly. Verity nodded her head.

"A dragon. A fire breathing dragon, at least according to the dwarrow and the wizard I was riding with that is what is in the mountain." Verity stated. Rok pulled a flexible screen out to show her the ground activity that had been going on around the ship where it was partially resting on the mountain side.

"We thought it was an active volcano at first." Rok answered as the way the rock shifted in reds, blues, and greens. Verity nodded her head in understanding, her lips bowed as she looked over the scans.

"They spoke about the dragon at length, even the damn elven kings spoke about them. Large and rather nasty attitudes with a greed for gold and gems. Came here a while back and took over the mountain kicking the remaining dwarrow from the home and hoarding all the gold. At least that was what I got from the story." The Major stated. The two looked over at the mountain where steam was slowly rising from the sides. "But I would have thought it a volcano as well from this point of view." She agreed. Rok nodded his head.

"You have any plans if that beast decides to get out of the mountain?" Rok asked, The Major looked at him and shrugged.

"Can't say that I do, just know that we may have to defend our position and even take in some refugees from the town on the Lake, I am pretty sure that beast will be coming out of that Mountain. Those Dwarrow are not going to be able to defeat it, but I have a feeling that the boatman might. However, we may need to lend some arial support and ground support. Get a couple of crickets and snipers ready to roll out and see how many pelicans are able to be operational at this time." The major commanded. Rok nodded as he and the major moved to the Pelican waiting for them. The Pilot nodded his head as he heard the orders over the radio.

"Sounds like we are going to have one hell of a party." He stated, a grin starting to spread across his face. "And here I thought we were going to be bored out of our minds sitting on our asses here." The co-pilot laughed at that and raised a thumb up to the Major as the two officers boarded the plane.

"Welcome back Major Amezcua, good to see you in one piece." The Co-pilot stated.

"Yes, it is good to be back. May not try the whole flying thing without a pelican next time." She answered in good humor.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Notes: Sorry for the long wait, things have been very wild around here. Favorite, Review, Follow. Hope you enjoy!

Bilbo gulped as he and the others raced through the mountains being chased by Smaug. Fire literally nipping at his feet as he ran with the others to avoid being fried like a fish. Thorin had done an impressive tuck and roll maneuver throwing off his overcoat in the process to escape the flames that were eating away at the heavy fur. Bilbo had to say for a stout muscular male he was light on his feet, but heavy on foot. Bilbo's mind got focused again as Smaug cut them off at another pass forcing the small group to drift into an even smaller group. This forced Smaug to have to choose which of the members to go after first. The thief or the dwarrow and the king, the dragon's massive head swiveled in the two directions as if he was making up his mind before he turned to follow the king of the dwarrow.

"I am King under this Mountain." Smaug hissed out with his next fiery breath. Thorin leap from the cross way onto another one and scurried in another direction forcing the massive dragon to slide on the coins of gold that he was moving upon. A tumble of the treasure washed over a lower crosswalk, flooding it like water in an overflowing river.

Soon the dwarrow had a plan established and had started to lure the dragon to what they hoped would be his doom. The fall of the molten gold covered the floor of the vast hall. Smaug was washed over by the flood of the precious metal that he so coveretted. "It burns!" Smaug roars as the gold covers him.

Silence filled the hall before the dragon burst through the stillness and smashed his way out of the mountain. "The humans of Laketown have helped you. I could smell the scent of fish upon your clothes, they will pay for this." Smaug vowed, leaping up in a spiral and shaking the melted gold off of him and took flight in the direction of the small floating town. "I am Fire, I am Death!" He growled out.

"Target has been sighted!" A Pelican Pilot stated over the comes, watching the massive shadow take flight. "I thought this dragon would be bigger!" He stated.

"Watch the tone, we copy what you mean. He is a little bit smaller than what we were imagining ourselves." The Major said, looking through the visual of one of the crickets from where the group had set up perimeters around the town. "Rok, start evacuation." She ordered. Getting an affirmative before a loud siren started to go off around the town. "Task Dragon is underway." She stated.

Two banshees shrieked by the dragon drawing its attention away from the town as the high pitched machines fired plasma shots into the armored hide. Melting down some of the armored scales on Smaug's side and flank. Smaug roared at them, and they circled and somersaulted away from his attacks like ballet dancers. The loud noises woke those that had been sleeping peacefully in warm beds, forcing them out and to come running to the windows to see what was happening outside. The lights that brightened the sky showed the shadowed form of the dragon as it zigged in and out of the air, fire blasting along its forefront as it tried to hit the targets of flies that seemed to swarm around him.

The Master was ushering his minions to load the boats with the towns precious valuables as the townspeople scurried to exit the area before the dragon was finished with whatever was bothering it. The men watched as the boat started to sink below the water line slightly from the weight of the gold. Soon they were ready to launch the long boat across the lake to the shore where a horse drawn carriage was waiting for them. The sudden noise of something loud started up and the men ducked covering their ears as the sound became a loud echo of thunder over and over in a fast rhythm. The wretched little worm that was the second in command ran out to look at what was going on when he saw what appeared to be bright lights flashing along the lake shore aimed toward the dragon.

Smaug let out another roar as the flanks that had been weakened, broke under something that pierced his flanks which caused a massive amount of blood to flow freely from the wounds that had ripped through his scales. He turned to look at the flashing of lights that were aimed at him. Something was strange about it, the taste of metal was full but the heat of the metal shouldn't have the force or strength to pierce his scales. His attention was once more diverted by the flying machines that opened fire with blue balls of heated lava. Smaug roared again as the metal giant opened fire upon him once more.

Bard watched as the people in the town raced to shore, he called out to one of the guards who was running by and the guard paused long enough to toss the keys to the cell. Bard scrambled to unlock the door and raced out of the building and headed toward the boat that had the black arrow hidden in it. He saw that the dwarrow that had remained behind and the two elves were helping to bring people across the area to shore as the dragon seemed to whither in the air as lights flared up around it. He squinted his eyes and looked into the darkness and saw the outline of something large shooting lights at the dragon.

Floored he looked up at the point where the dragon was staying afloat shooting fire at something that was shooting blue balls of fire at the red scaled beast. The dragon flew away from the spot and once again headed toward the town. His eyes widened as what appeared to be flying birds flew away from the area heading toward the mountain, and checking he saw the giant shadow was also gone. They had given enough time for the town to evacuate but couldn't keep up the onslaught with the low ammunition supply.

"Alright boys time to bring you back to the ship. We can't keep this up much longer without running low on our supplies." Commander Verity ordered, watching as the banshees made a last sweep of the lizard and flew away from it. The dragon didn't follow, turning his attention back onto the town that had been his main target all along. She heaved a sigh and turned her Grasshopper toward the trail that she had left to the shore. "Medbay, start preparing for the injured to come in." She called out the order, receiving a confirmation.

Smaug roared and let loose flames upon the town as he blazed past it in a low swoop. Bard ducked and watched as the tower fell from the tallest building of the area and smashed into the Master's boat filled to overflowing with gold. Watching it sink with little concern he saw his son race over to him, and in his hands was the black arrow that Bard had been searching for. "Dad, did you see those things?" He asked, Bard nodded his head in agreement with his son's question.

"Yes, but now is not the time to focus on them. You need to go, hand me the arrow and keep your sisters safe." Bard assured his son, watching as his son handed him the black arrow head and nodded his head before taking off. Bard looked around for a place to shoot the arrows at Smaug to get him closer to him for the best possible aim he could achieve. The watchtower caught his attention and he raced toward it. The dragon fire had raised the town into a fiery mess heat scorched at him as he climbed the tower and he gritted his teeth against the fire and continued with his mission.

Smaug was throwing taunts to him, as Bard fired arrow after arrow at the dragon. Bard could see the wounds bleeding from the dragon as it flew past, blood that splattered hot and heavy onto Bard's face. Bard gritted his teeth and pulled the string back on the last of his arrows and watched it log into one of the open wounds. Smaug roared in pain and anger and thrashed around in the air in pain, knocking buildings over and into the water of the lake. The wood of the bow broke as Smaug launched his body at the tower, almost knocking the tower over but it held firm despite its flimsy look. Bard looked at the bow and exhaled a shaky breath of air. He felt failure settle heavy in his stomach like heavy iron and watched as Smaug taunted him once more.

Just then his son popped up over the ladder holding rope wrapped around his shoulder. "What are you doing here?" Bard stated, his voice dropping in fear at seeing his son in the middle of danger.

"I can help." His son stated, Bard looked at the rope then the boy and nodded his head yes. They formed a makeshift crossbow using the remains of the tower as support and the boy as part of the structure.

"Hold steady." Bard told his son, and carefully aimed him to hit the mark of loosened scales over the dragon's heart. Smaug was coming in for another blast directly on the tower. "Steady!" Bard whispered, then they released the arrow and watched as it flew straight into the softened scale that had been loosened by Bard's grandfather. The dragon spiraled up flames lighting up his chest and belly before it went cold and the dragon smashed into the water taking out the rest of Laketown.

Bard and his son surfaced from where he had tossed them into the water to avoid the dragon falling. They both swam to shore where others from the town were all circled around. Kili and Fili watched as the town still smoldered from the dragon's fire. Bain looked back over to where they had seen the large flying birds but he could see nothing now. The number of survivors were far greater than Bain had expected, but there were still injured people from the fire those that had been straggling behind as the dragon had come. Bain watched the way his father gave the dwarrow a cold glare as he moved to embrace his two sisters. Bain could understand what his father was feeling. If it hadn't been for the dwarrow waking up the dragon, then Laketown would not have been destroyed.

Dawn brought with it the shock of seeing the ruins of the town and the solidarity of the shock of the loss taking root inside the men's hearts. They had no food or shelter from the harsh winter that would be coming in and they would not have time to rebuild in the late autumn that they were in. Bard motioned for the people to follow him to the remains of the great city that had once thrived beside the mountain, the great city Dale. It took the entire day to make the journey to the ruins but it gave them a place to stay even if the ruins were not suitable for much they at least provided some shelter from the weather and the bitter cold that would soon come to the land.

Bard jerked to a stop, eyes widening as he saw the human woman that had come with the Dwarrow sitting patiently on a fallen stone as if waiting for them to arrive. She looked up, her clothing was repaired or new, but Bard couldn't decide, but she looked more put together and well acquainted with the area around her. "I had a feeling this would be the area that you would come to." Verity stated, rising from her seated position and looking over the group.

"Why are you not with the Dwarrow?" Bard asked the woman as she looked them over as if inspecting them.

"We parted ways once we hit Laketown, that was as far as I needed to go with them. I wasn't an original member of the group. Do you need any help, first aid, food, clothing?" Verity asked. Bard stopped and arched an eyebrow at her.

"I can help." She offered again.

"How?" Bard asked back.

"I have men and supplies that you can use, doctors to help with the injured if you will let us." Verity answered back. Bard stared at her in shock.

"And what would you want in return?" Bard asked, this world always came with a price for everything. Verity smiled and shook her head.

"You already paid in full when you helped us into Laketown, I am just paying it forward." She answered back, before speaking into something that was sticking into her ear, a device that Bard hadn't noticed until now. Sigrid and Bain looked at one another as men and women streamed from behind the foreigner and started toward them.

"Who are they?" Bard asked, after a few hours of silence where tents had been erected to help battle the elements, and stations had been put together at a record rate.

"My men, I said I come from somewhere far off. They are under my command and come from the same area. Well most of them. The rest you will probably not meet." Verity stated, referring to the Sangheili that were waiting on board the ship continuing the repairs. The two fell into a comfortable silence watching the on goings of their group working together.

Few days later a horn sounded and Verity looked up from what she had been doing with braiding Tilda's hair. She listened in as Rok spoke over the com to the rest of the group spread out setting up perimeters around the area for protection. "Incoming, looks like another group of humans being led by a man on a large mammal. They have armor on, so soldiers." Rok stated, Verity looked over to where the sound of marching was coming from and watched passively as Thranduil and his army arrived in a flashy over styled parade march.

Bard moved out to greet him and Verity motioned her men back from the area closest to the elves. "Lord Thranduil!" Bard started, and Thranduil waved him off looking around at the area that housed the ruins of the city.

"I have heard you killed the dragon." Thranduil stated, face emotionless and smooth in the elven looks. Armor shiny and cape draped over the massive deer that he rode upon. Bard nodded his head in confirmation to the statement. "We've come bearing supplies to help your people in your time of need, since Dale and The elves of Greenwood have been allies we will continue to do so now." Thranduil proclaimed. He paused, eyes staring in a hard look at the woman that had escaped his prison. Verity arched an eyebrow back at him. He wasn't as intimidating as he thought, after everything that she had experienced in her short human life she could honestly say she thought him overly flamboyant in his flaunt of military power and prosperous accomplishments of being able to provide for allies.

"Yes, we thank you. Lord Thranduil I would like to introduce to you our other allies. This is Major Verity Amezcua…." Bard paused as he noticed how the Elven King was glaring at the woman and the way the woman was simply smirking back at him, like she knew the punch line to the joke that the King hadn't even started yet.

"We've already met." Verity told Bard, "Call me if you need anything further." She stated moving away from the elves and the humans that had gathered around the wagon of produce.


End file.
